The Forbidden Love
by ZabuzasGirl
Summary: While going on a hike in the mountains a young college student,Kushina comes across a cave. Inside she finds something that changes her life forever. Olympus, prince of demons. They go down a road of love and danger. Olympus & OC
1. Chapter 1

The Forbidden Love Chapter 1 

Screams. Screams were all around me, I was surrounded by screaming.

The ground was shaking and people were running everywhere. Pieces of debris were falling around me.

The demons were t it again and attacking Mariner Bay. The power rangers were fighting hard with their Zords, but this one was proving to be extremely difficult to fight.

I was running with the crowds. Everyone was heading to any spot they could find that was a safe place to hide until this fight was finished.

I was running down a large street when I suddenly heard someone call out my name. "Kushina! Over here, Kushina!"

I looked around and soon spotted who had called out to me. It was a young man that I went to college with, we were taking some of the same classes together. His name was Kevin Skinner and he was waving at me from behind a nearby building.

"Hurry, Kushina," shouted Kevil. "It's safe over here."

I didn't hesitate for a second. I ran straight over to Kevin and hid in the shadows of the building beside him. Together we watched the battle that was unfolding in front of us. Close by a lot of other people were doing the same in some other hiding spots.

I looked on with concern at the fight. "Do you think the power rangers will be able to win this fight," I asked, concerned.

Kevin grinned, saying "Of course they will. After all they haven't lost one yet."

A few moments later we both winced. The power rangers had just taken a big hit and their Zord had crashed into a building.

Kevin and I covered out heads with our arms in order to shield them from any falling debris. When we felt it was safe we took our arms away from our heads and looked back up at the battle.

This time the look on Kevin's face wasn't as confident as before. "Then again I could be wrong," he said.

Fortunately a few seconds later we found out that our fears weren't justified. As the rangers were trying to regain their footing the demon ran forward, ready to deliver another attack. Only this time the monster managed to block it with their own weapon.

"Impossible," the demon exclaimed, surprised. "You shouldn't even be able to move."

Boy was he proven wrong.

The power rangers pushed the demon back by punching it in the face and giving it a forceful kick in the chest. The demon staggered backwards while clutching his chest. The kick from the power ranger's zord actually did some damage, but not enough to actually defeat this guy. The power rangers knew what they had to do in order to get rid of this guy.

Down in my hiding place I saw what happened next. Before the demon could even try to attack again the power rangers mad their move. Without warning the power rangers whipped out their blaster and aimed it straight at the demon. This took the monster by surprise and stopped the demon in its tracks. In less than a second the power rangers took aim and fired a blast right at it.

It happened so fast that the demon couldn't do anything at all to stop it. It didn't even have time to lift up his own weapon an inch.

There was a loud scream from the demon as the blast hit his chest and exploded.

Kevin and I gasped at what we had just seen.

As the smoke cleared from the attack I could see that the demon was still managing to stay on its feet, but just barely.

"You… cannot…defeat me," gasped the demon. "It is…impossible."

The demon took a step forward and held out its arm as if it was going to attack. Only then a loud groan escaped the demon and it collapsed onto the ground. The demon then exploded from the inside.

I screamed and held my arms over my face to shield it from anything that came our way. Kevin shielded me with his own body.

Once we felt it was safe to come out Kevin and I left our hiding place behind the building. The same idea came to a lot of other people, not just us. Many other people joined us as we went out into the street.

For a few moments there was complete silence, but then cheers and exclamations of joy out of everyone.

The power rangers were doing the same exact thing in their Zord. That giant fighting machine made a big victory pose, holding its weapons high in the air. A shout "Yeah!" came out of the Zord containing all of the mixed voices of the rangers inside of it. This was a very, very big victory for them in their continuing war against the demons.

Down below everyone was getting back to what they were doing before this attack came onto us.

Kevin and I walked together for a little while, but then at the first intersection we went our separate ways. We both had things that we needed to do.

Before we went our separate ways Kevin noticed an odd look on my face. He looked at me, concerned. "Is everything all right, Kushina," he asked.

I turned and smiled at him. "No, nothing is wrong," I said. "Why do you ask?"

Kevin shrugged his shoulders, saying "I don't know. It just looked like you had your mind on something/  
>"Well there's no need for you to worry. I am perfectly fine," I said, smiling.<p>

Kevin smiled right back. "So I'll see you in class," he said.

I nodded, saying "I'll definitely be there. See you on Monday."

After that the two of us then went off in opposite directions.

As I was walking down the street a thoughtful look appeared on my face. Truth be told, Kevin was right. There absolutely was something on my mind. I knew that this one demon was dead, I mean I saw it with my own eyes. So why wouldn't this horrible feeling go away? I kept telling myself that this one demon was dead, but for some reason I kept thinking that this one was still alive.


	2. Chapter 2

The Forbidden Love Chapter 2

The next day I was hiking in an area outside of the city, but still inside Mariner Bay. It wasn't at all very far away from my small apartment. I mean I could see the forest and mountains from my bedroom window at night. Anyway I had already finished my class assignments the day before and decided to go out for a little hike.

By the way I am Kushina Halliwell and I'm 19 years old. I'm a college student at Mariner University. I was studying to become a wildlife biologist so that I could work with animals.

My friend, Kevin Skinner, was studying the same thing, but it was more with their internal body structures. You see he was taking classes to become a veterinarian and he needed to know about their internal structures.

Because the two of us were mostly studying the same subject this was the main reason why we had so many classes together.

Our families were here in Mariner Bay with us, but unlike Kevin, I now had a place of my own and wasn't still living with my parents.

It was a really fine day. Many were told that it would rain this day, but fortunately it was all clear.

As I was running past a cliff something caught my eye. It was an entrance to a cave, a small opening in the mountain. I stopped where I was and looked at it, curious. In all of the years that I had been living here I had never come across this cave. This was a bit confusing because since I was sixteen I had been hiking up here whenever I could on weekends. After a few moments I quickly dismissed this. I must've not noticed it during my other hiking trips in the area. I came to this conclusion after I noticed the bushes in front of the cave. These were covering up a large part of the entrance and only a small portion of it was visible.

After a few seconds of thinking I decided to go over and investigate the cave. I was curious to see what it contained inside.

I had to bend down a little as I was going through the cave entrance. As soon as I stepped inside I dropped my bag and took a look at my surroundings.

Except for the light that was coming in through the cave entrance it was mostly darkness, but I could still see enough to get by. The walls and ceiling were completely made out of solid rock.

At the end of the cavern I saw an opening to another area of the cave. My curiosity increased at seeing this. I didn't know what was down there, but I wanted to check it out anyway.

I left my bag where it was and started walking. I kept one hand on the wall. Although there was light in the front and behind me it was still quite small in some places and needed to know where I was going.

I was moving as quietly as possible since I didn't know who or what was on the other side and I didn't want who or whatever it was to know I was coming.

Once I reached the end of the cave I pressed myself against the wall. I slowly turned my head and peeked around to take a look at the other side. As soon as I did so…I almost had a heart attack.

I snapped back against the cave wall with an expression of complete disbelief and horror on my face. I was frozen where I was. After a moment's hesitation I took another look and confirmed what I saw.

The demon from yesterday was inside the cavern…and it was still alive.

The demon was asleep against the wall of the small cavern. There was a fire a few feet in front of him which was the source of the flickering light that had brought me to this spot.

His weapon was laid down beside him. It was some kind of staff, but both ends of it held some kind of complicated spear.

As soon as I spotted the weapon an idea sparked in my head. If I could just grab the weapon I could probably kill this demon before he woke up and started trouble in the city again. After coming to this decision I finally moved out of my hiding place.

I stated moving over to where the demon lay. I was hoping that the crackling of the fire would conceal any noise that I made.

Fortunately for me, my method seemed to work. The demon didn't make any noise or move at all.

Within a minute I was beside the demon and his weapon. I knelt beside him and checked to make sure that the demon was still asleep. When I had confirmed this I made my move and reached out for the weapon.

A hand reached out and grabbed my wrist just as I was about to take it. I let out a scream of fright and turned to look at the demon.

He was wide awake and he clearly wasn't happy to see a human about to take up his weapon.

I looked up into his face and met the cold glare coming out of his eyes. I tried to pull my wrist out of the demons grip, but it was like a vice, not letting go.

"You're not getting away," snarled the demon.

I had to think fast. I couldn't pull myself out of his grasp the way it was now. I picked up a handful of dirt and threw it directly into the demon's face. The demon let out a shout and loosened his grip on my wrist. It loosened just enough that I was able to pull free. I went running straight for my hiding place as fast as I could.

Behind me the demon has wiped the dirt away from his eyes. When he had me in his sights the demon pointed his arm at me. "Perish human," he bellowed.

Something like an energy ball came out of his hand and headed for me. The attack missed, but hit a spot on the wall beside my head. I screamed and jumped back behind the wall.

I pressed my body as tight as I could against the wall, breathing hard. This guy was dangerous…a monster.

I had to tell somebody, warn the city that this demon was still living. If I could just find the power rangers and tell them about my discovery they could probably destroy him easily with the demon's strength down like this. Yes, that's what I would do, but I had to find them first.

I began to move back toward the cave entrance.

A loud moan came from behind me, coming from inside the cavern. It stopped me in my tracks. I listened and I heard another moan confirming what had reached my ears.

I went back over to the wall and looked around it. Doing so I saw what had been the cause of the moaning.

The demon was clutching his chest and left arm. He was still moaning and was clearly in pain. Obviously when he moved before some injuries that he had sustained in the fight yesterday caused him some pain and a lot of it.

My body was still telling me to run, but for some reason both my mind and heart were telling me to stay. After a few long moments I came to a decision.

Inside the cavern the demon had stopped making noise, but was stull wincing from his wounds. His chest was giving him problems and his arm was causing his difficulties. Just moving it was bringing him pain. He moved back into a comfortable position. He seemed worried about something. If that human, me went and told the power rangers about his location it could ruin everything for him. He was seriously hoping that his caretaker Jinxer would come back soon.

The demon could now hear someone coming back down his way, to the cavern. Thinking it was his caretaker his mood lightened up a bit.

"Jinxer," called the demon.

A moment later he learned who was coming and one thing was for sure is that it wasn't who he had been expecting.

A few seconds later I stepped out of the shadows and into the light of the fire. I was carrying the pack I had with me over my shoulder.

The demon seemed certainly surprised to see me, I could see that on his face, but his expression turned from being surprised to quite fierce.

"What are you doing back here, human," he growled. He took up his weapon and pointed it at me as if he was going to attack me. "Leave," he commanded and winced. He had used the arm that was broken.

Seeing the demon in pain reminded me of why I was there. So while I was ignoring my fear I began to slowly walk toward him.

Seeing my approach caused the demon to get even more agitated. "Stay back," he ordered. The demon threw an energy back straight at me. This one looked like it wasn't going to miss.

Fortunately, I ducked down just before it was about to make contact with my face. It hit the wall behind me instead. I covered my head so that the pieces of falling stone wouldn't cause any damage to me. I then got off of my knees and continued with my approach.

The demon was slumped up against the wall, breathing hard even though it was causing him agony, and clutching his injured arm.

As I was moving closer I stopped for a second and changed course. Before, I was heading for the side of him that had his weapon, but at the last minute I went for the other. I figured that given his reaction from before he wouldn't be too happy to find me in the same position again.

During this entire time I had never taken my eyes off of his face and he had been watching my every movement. For a little while the two of us just sat their staring at each other.

I was the first to break the silence, asking, "Where are you wounded? Do you have any broken bones?"

He didn't answer me at all he just kept silent while looking at me. Since I wasn't really getting an answer I just got to what I had come here to do.

I moved my pack from off of my shoulder and reached out to him. "What are you doing," he asked.

"Checking your body for injuries," I answered. I was feeling the areas around his body, checking for any other broken bones.

The demon didn't resist my touch, but I did see him put a hand on his weapon. He was preparing himself just in case I tried anything, but I wasn't worried. It could clearly be seen that this guy didn't have a lot of strength left in him and that he didn't want to waste any more of it. I wasn't expecting an attack from him right now, but I wasn't about to let down my guard.

After a bit of time I managed to figure out the extent of his injuries. His legs were fine except for some deep cuts, but there weren't any broken bones there. I didn't know how many, but I did find a few cracked ribs in the chest area. As soon as I had started pressing a bit against his chest he had winced. Like his legs there weren't any deep cuts, but there were some deeper ones on the legs. His left arm was certainly broken, but when I examined the right arm there was only a few small bruises. Fortunately, I had all of the stuff needed to treat his body.

I dug into my pack and took out the materials I was going to use. They were a roll of bandages and a bag of medical herbs. I rubbed the herbs into the bandages and then wrapped those over his cuts.

I tightly bound up his chest in order to keep the ribs in one place so that they could heal properly. I had to wrap the bandages a few times around his torso to keep them firmly in place. This was uncomfortable for the two of us for I had to move in quite close.

The demon was looking into my face, but I avoided eye contact with him.

After I was done with his chest I moved onto his broken arm.

"Can you lift up your arm," I asked, looking up at him.

He didn't say anything, only nodded his head. He slowly lifted up his arm for me, trying not to cringe in pain. Even a slight movement of his arm was painful for him.

I took his arm into my hand, helping him support it. I used my other hand to wrap the bandages around it.

As I was binding up his arm I noticed that he bore strange expression on his face. A few seconds later when he spoke I found out why.

"Why are you doing this," asked the demon, staring at me.

"Your bodies broken," I answered, "I'm fixing it."

"No," he said, shaking his head, "I mean, why are you helping me?"

I just sighed and kept on doing my work. "To be honest I don't know why I'm helping you," I said. "I guess it's because that right now you aren't a fierce demon trying to destroy Mariner Bay, but a creature that is injured, broken, and in need of healing." I looked up into his face. "Does that answer your question?"

"Slightly," said the demon, tapping his chin thoughtfully.

I had finished with his arm, but I still need something to keep it in lace so that it wouldn't get damaged even further. I dug deeper into my pack and found exactly what was needed for what I wanted to do.

I pulled out some cloth and was able to make a sling for him. I asked him to move his arm so slightly. He did what I asked and this time he did so without wincing. It seemed that the bandages were doing a good job holding his ribs in place.

I put a piece of the cloth over his left shoulder and once I had the sling set up I gently took his arm in my hand and placed it through the sling.

"There, that should hold," I said, smiling. I was proud of my work.

I looked up and noticed he was still giving me that strange look from before. "Is something wrong," I asked.

He didn't actually answer my question, but I was able to get a response out of him.

"None of your business, human," he said, irritated.

The smile disappeared from my face and my eyes narrowed. I didn't like the sound of his tone. "There's no need to get angry," I said. "I was just curious."

"ever hear the expression curiosity killed the cat," he said.

"Yes, as a matter of fact I have," I said. "Oh and by the way I have a name."

"And just what might that be," he sneered. "It's Kushina…," I said, returning his gaze, "Kushina Halliwell."

Preparing to leave I began to put my equipment back into my back. The herbs were the last thing I put back. I spoke to him again as I was wrapping them up. "I don't know if your body structure will heal faster than my kind, but these wounds will take a while to heal. I'll be back soon to change the bandages and see if your injuries are healing all right." I put the herbs into the pack. "You shouldn't move around so much. You should get some sleep, it will help you regain your strength."

Without another word I turned and went out of the cave.

Outside, I came to the decision of ending my hike early. I headed back the way I did down the trail and went for home. The whole time I was walking one thought kept going through my mind. This was whether I did the right thing by helping this guy or if I should return or not.


	3. Chapter 3

The Forbidden Love Chapter 3

Not long after I headed back home the demon had another visitor in the cavern. He was nursing his arm when he could suddenly hear someone quickly coming down his way.

Not knowing who, or what it could be, Olympus grabbed his weapon and pointed it in the direction where the footsteps were coming from. "Who's there," he demanded.

Around the corner came his caretaker, Jinxer, holding a vile of some kind of liquid in his hands. "It's just me Olympus," he said, reassuring his charge.

Olympus calmed down when he saw Jinxer. "Ah, Jinxer. Welcome," said Olympus. Olympus lowered his weapon and placed it back down next to him while allowing Jinxer to approach him.

"Rest, my Prince," said Jinxer, lowering himself down to his knees. "I'll nurse you back to health. Just drink this elixir I've brought you."

Olympus nodded and Jinxer brought the vile up to his lips in order to help him drink. Olympus put his hand on the vile with Jinxer, trying to get as much as the elixir in his body as he could in just one gulp.

After a few seconds Olympus took in a breath. "Did anyone see you come in here," asked Olympus. "Were you followed?" "No," answered Jinxer, shaking his head.

"Excellent," said Olympus, satisfied. "Now you must return before the others miss you."

"Yes, my Prince," said Jinxer, "I'll let them think you've perished in the shadow world."

"Perfect," said Olympus. He went to make a fist, but the pain in his arm with his other hand.

Jinxer patted his chest in comfort. "And then you'll return stronger than ever," said Jinxer.

Jinxer brought the vile back to his mouth and Olympus drank the rest of it down.

Jinxer chose that moment to ask about the bandages on his body and the sling on his arm. "Pardon me, my prince. May I speak," he asked.

"What is it, Jinxer," said Olympus.

Jinxer pointed at the bandages. "Forgive my forwardness, but how did you manage to bandage yourself? I left none of this here for you the last time I was here," said Jinxer, curious.

Olympus opened his mouth to answer his caretaker, but just when he was about to speak he hesitated. A few seconds later he did speak up. "That's none of your concern, Jinxer," he said. "Now leave."

Taking the hint, Jinxer stood up from next to Olympus and left. He knew better than to question Olympus when he was like this.

The whole time, Olympus just had his head turned away. To Jinxer, Olympus was only staring at the wall, but in reality Olympus had something on his mind.

Olympus couldn't get it. He was about to tell Jinxer about the human girl when he had suddenly stopped himself. It just didn't make any sense to him right now.

Tired, he settled down for a nice long sleep. He needed the rest. While he was drifting off to sleep that human girl, Kushina, her name was, was still on his mind. She stayed in his mind even after he fell asleep.


	4. Chapter 4

The Forbidden Love Chapter 4

"All right everyone I want those assignments in by Wednesday, no excuses. Class dismissed."

That was our cue. Everyone in the room, including myself, got up from our desks and went to leave for the day. I put my books into my bag, took up my purse, and headed out with everyone else.

I was one of the last ones out so I didn't notice the person waiting for me outside of the classroom.

"Hey, Kushina," someone shouted.

I turned at the sound of my name and smiled when I saw who it was. "Hey, Kevin," I said.

Kevin smiled back and came over to me. "What's up," he asked.

"Nothing really, just heading home," I said.

"How about coming over to my place? There's a really good movie on tonight," said Kevin.

Unfortunately for him I was already shaking my head before he was even finished speaking. "Sorry Kevin, but I can't," I said. "I have some assignments that are due tomorrow and I'm really behind."

Kevin understood. He said "I completely understand. The schedule here can really be a killer sometimes."

"No kidding. So I'll see you tomorrow then," I said.

"Bright and early," said Kevin.

The two of us then went off in different directions.

To be honest I hadn't actually been quite truthful with Kevin right now. I did have some assignments due the next day, but unlike what I told Kevin, I had already finished them a few days ago. Unlike most students here at the college I like to finish every single one of my assignments ahead of time so that I could have time to myself.

Today I was going to use that free time to do something that I had been thinking over for the past few days. I was finally going to go back to that cave and check up on that demon to check on how his injuries were healing up.

I was still quite surprised with myself that I hadn't turned him over to the power rangers yet. I had been debating this in my head ever since I had left that cave. I hadn't made that decision, but I had a feeling that this uncertainty would end after my visit today.

As soon as I left the college campus I headed for the nearest pharmacy. I was out of bandages and other medical supplies at my apartment and I need to obtain some more. I didn't really know how much I was going to need this time so I had to be prepared.

It wasn't that far away from the university, just a few blocks down the road. While I was n the area I went to a small store to get some food.

I went to my apartment to drop off my college books and to pick up the gear I had brought up with me to the cave last time.

I went up the same trail that I used last time up there. Since I now knew where that cave it didn't take me long to find it at all.

All I needed to do was look past some bushes and there it was. I ducked into the opening and went inside and this time I took everything with me.

As soon as I walked through the entrance my mind was telling me to turn back, that it was too dangerous, but I kept on walking.

I was so caught up in my thoughts that I hadn't realized that my footsteps were so loud until he spoke.

"Jinxer," he called. "Jinxer, you'd better have a good explanation for being late. You know that I am not to be kept waiting!"

The demon was quite angry, you could see it on his face.

He was about to say something else when he suddenly stopped. He was wearing a shocked expression and his eyes were wide in surprise.

I had just walked around the corner and came into view with the light of the fire flickering on and off of my body.

For the next few minutes the two of us stood there in silence just staring at each other. After a little while I was the one who broke the silence.

I folded my arms over my chest and raised an eyebrow at him. "It's not polite to stare," I told him.

The demon didn't look away it was like he couldn't even hear me speaking so I tried again to get his attention.

"You seem surprised," I said.

"I…I didn't expect to see you back here," he said.

I said "I said that I would." I went over and knelt down by his side. "Now then let's take a look at you."

The demon tensed up when I went to touch him, but he didn't try to move away from me this time.

I carefully unwrapped the bandages so that I wouldn't mess up anything. To my surprise the cuts and bruises from before were nearly all healed. Only a few of them remained on his skin.

The demon could see the surprise on my face and he answered my thoughts before I even spoke the question. "My kind heals fast," he said.

I said "I can see that."

I then put my hands on his chest. I pushed a little in order to figure out the extent of the damage that remained on his ribs.

It was a good thing I did this because at least one of them was still broken. The demon was trying not to show it, but I did see him flinch a little when I touched that one spot.

"You still have one cracked rib," I said.

The next thing I did was check out how his arm was fairing. I took it in both of my hands and moved it around a little. The demon tried to pull his arm out of my grip, but I held firm to it.

"Your arm is still broken," I said. "This'll take longer to heal than I thought."

I let go of his arm, allied the herbs that I had onto some of the bandages with me, and wrapped them securely around the area with that one cracked rib that was left. I did the same thing to his arm, but I handled it far more carefully. Once I was done I laid it gently back down in the sling.

"There, that should do it," I said, satisfied.

At that exact moment my stomach growled and I came to the realization that I hadn't eaten a thing for a few hours now.

I went back into my pack and took out an apple along with a water bottle. I took out another apple and held it out to the demon. I averted my eyes away from him, not wanting to look at him in the eye.

"Thought you might be hungry," I said.

The demon hesitated, but a moment later his own stomach growled.

This caused a slight smile to appear on my face and I could've sworn I saw the skin around his face turn redder than it already was in a blush.

"Take it," I said, softly.

He still hesitated, looking at my face to the apple in my hand, and then back to my face again.

I flexed my hand, emphasizing that he should take the fruit from me. "Come on," I said. "I know you want it."

Finally the demon reached out and took the apple out of my hand. I took a bite out of my own and watched in amusement as he investigated his. Honestly, it was like he had never seen an apple before.

He seemed to give it a sniff and after a few moments he took a small bite out of it. I didn't expect the reaction that came next.

He, suddenly, spat out the piece that he already had I his mouth and chucked the rest the apple away from him. "Revolting," he said, not even trying to hide the disgust in his voice.

I asked "Was something wrong with it?"

"My kind doesn't eat that kind of stuff," he answered.

"Fine, then what do you eat," I asked.

"Meat," answered the demon, "we only eat meat."

"Okay," I said. "I don't have much with me, but I do have some meat in my pack." I put my hand into my bag and brought out a package of pork that was in there. I held it out to him. "It's not much, but it's all that I brought with me right now. I can cook it for you…"

Quick as a snake he snatched the meat from my hand and started tearing at it with his teeth before I could say anything else.

I was about to say that I would cook it for him, but it looked like that I wouldn't need to. "Well it looks like I won't be doing any cooking," I said, taking another bite out of my apple.

It was a bit awkward for a little while after that. We just ate in silence without actually saying a word. After a few minutes a thought came to mind.

I turned to him. "You know I just realized something. You know my name, but I don't know yours. What's your name," I asked, curious.

The demon stayed silent and didn't answer me.

"Come on, please tell me," I persisted.

The demon turned his head toward me and met my gaze. "What's it to you," he said.

I held out my hands, palms out as if warding off an attack. "Take it easy," I said. "I'm only curious. So, are you going to tell me or not?"

He kept his eyes on my face for a few more seconds and then turned away.

"Fine, don't tell me," I said, "but I'll find out sooner or later."

Little did I know that I would find out much sooner than I originally thought. Boy, what a surprise I got when I found out who he actually was.

I then started to gather up my belongings. "I'll be back to check up on you again soon. If you get enough rest you should be healed in a few more days although I can't say the same about your strength," I said.

Without another word I turned and headed out, but I had only taken a few steps away from where I was standing when something unexpected happened.

Suddenly I could hear someone running down the length of the cave to reach the cavern. During that time I could hear a voice getting louder and louder as it was getting closer to our location.

Another person turned the corner, another demon.

It was saying "Prince Olympus, I'm sorry it took me so long to return. The others wouldn't let me leave. I have…" The new demon cut him off as soon as he saw me standing in front of him. He jumped and squealed "A human!"

This demon was different from the other one. In fact it looked to be a demon that was part fly. He had the wings of a fly on his back and parts of his body structure had the partial resemblance of one even though there was a small mixture of something human. Also, he looked to be like some kind of sorcerer by the clothing he was wearing. He was wearing pure white gloves, dark glasses, and had a dark mustache.

But…it wasn't his sudden appearance that made me shocked right now. It was what I heard him say just now that made me freeze where I was.

As soon as I heard the word "prince" and the name "Olympus" I froze in place. I had heard that name before and I didn't like the meaning behind it when I heard it. Now I knew who he was.

Slowly I turned back toward him, my eyes wide. "You're…" I couldn't even say it.

Olympus nodded his head, his eyes not leaving my face. "Yes," he said. "I am Prince Olympus."

I didn't know for sure, but I thought I saw his arm move closer to his weapon. Not waiting to find out I bolted straight for the exit.

Jinxer was in my way and I knocked right past him on my way out. He nearly fell over, but he somehow managed to keep his balance and stay standing.

Jinxer held out his hand in my direction as if he was going to send out an attack to try and stop me, but an order from Olympus stopped him before he could actually try anything.

"No, Jinxer," said Olympus, firmly.

Jinxer looked at him with the expression on his face showing that he couldn't believe what he just heard. He gestured with his hand. "But-but, Prince Olympus…," he stammered.

Olympus held up his hand. "Enough, Jinxer," he said, with a commanding voice. "Let her go."

"But, my prince, what if she reveals where you are? This location could be compromised," said Jinxer.

Olympus was shaking his head. He said "I've got a feeling she won't. Now drop it, Jinxer and give me the elixir."

Jinxer bowed and said "Yes, my prince."

Jinxer then went over and gave Olympus the elixir that he had brought. Olympus gulped it down in a matter of seconds.

Finished, Olympus started to make himself comfortable. Even though his body was healing well he still needed a lot more rest in order to help regain the strength he had lost.

While Olympus was doing this Jinxer worked up the courage to ask Olympus something that had been on his mind for the past few minutes. "Olympus," he said.

"What is it now, Jinxer," said Olympus, annoyed.

Jinxer said "The human girl that was here-."

"What about her," said Olympus.

Jinxer hesitated before he spoke again. "Well, I was wondering if she was the one who's banaged your wounds," he said.

Olympus said "Yes, she is."

Although Jinxer expected this answer he was still surprised by it. This time Jinxer was wise enough to not say anything else on this subject. Just because they weren't talking about it at the moment didn't mean they weren't still thinking of it in their minds.


	5. Chapter 5

The Forbidden Love Chapter 5

I hadn't stopped running since I'd left that cave sooner than I expected I was back at my apartment. I ran right inside and slammed the door behind me.

I was breathing very hard and trying to catch my breath. I was just so shocked that I just didn't really know what to think. I just couldn't believe it.

I knew the person I was helping was a demon, but I didn't know that he was the prince of the demons. I mean his mother, Queen Bansheera, was the one who was trying to destroy Mariner Bay. This changed everything.

Now I really had a choice to make. My mind was telling me to turn Olympus over to the power rangers, in fact it was screaming so loud in my head. While my mind was telling me one thing my heart was telling me something completely different. It was telling me on helping Olympus. I don't know why, but even though my mind was screaming at me to not to, my heart was telling me that it was absolutely the right thing to do. I still felt a bit unsure, but my mind was made up.

I took in a few deep breaths to calm myself down. My mind was made up, but my body was still full of stress. I needed to do this so my body would calm down.

I made myself a small dinner and sat down to eat. All of that excitement actually increased my appetite instead of making it disappear.

When I was completely finished with my meal it actually came to me of how tired I was. All of the excitement of the day didn't rid me of my appetite, but it sure made me tired. I decided to take it in early and go to bed. I was out as soon as I had put my head down on the pillow.

I had made my decision and wondered what tomorrow would bring. Back in the cave Olympus was wondering the exact same thing.


	6. Chapter 6

The Forbidden Love Chapter 6

The next day I decided to return back to the cave earlier than I had originally planned. This visit wouldn't just be a check-up. I wanted some answers and I was planning on getting them.

Right now I was working as a waitress in a restaurant that was close to my college. It was the lunch hour and things were quite chaotic with so many hungry customers coming in. Every single waiter and waitress in the place was running all over the place and the cooks were working overtime with all of the food orders coming in at one time.

It was even harder for me right now because I was trying to do some homework in between taking orders from the customers. Every time I only had like a minute or two to read or write something down before I was on the move again. This job could be so exhausting some times, but as long as I was making enough money to support myself it was fine by me.

Fortunately, the lunch rush only lasted for only a few hours and it got easier to deal with once it got somewhat slower. Thanks to that I was able to do at least some of the homework that I had brought with me to work.

It was in the late afternoon when my shift at the restaurant ended and I was able to leave.

My boss was at the kitchen overseeing the cooking in there. Suddenly I heard him call out to me from over the island.

"Hey, Kushina," he shouted.

I looked toward the kitchen and saw Tony looking at me from over the island.

"What is it, Tony," I asked.

"Your shifts up," said Tony. "You can go."

I nodded, showing that I acknowledged what he said. Seeing this Tony turned his attention away from me and back to what he was doing before.

As for me I was cleaning up a table when he had called to me so I finished that up. Once I was done I picked my college books and homework where I had left them on the counter.

A middle aged woman who, also, worked with me at the restaurant smiled at me as I was picking up my things.

"Have a nice day, dear," she said.

"Thanks, Tina," I said, smiling back at her. "See you tomorrow." I settled my bag on one of my shoulders with my purse and left the restaurant.

I needed to return to my apartment to change before I even went up to the cave. I was wearing my waitress uniform right now and I couldn't very well go up there in that.

While I was on my way home there was another attack on the city. I was going over what to wear in my head when it happened.

Suddenly a monster appeared out of nowhere in a crowd of people. As soon as he appeared the monster started to attack everything and everyone around it. People were screaming and running to get out of the way.

I let my body take over and ran. I could hear that monster laughing in a very maniacal way. Once I knew that I was a safe distance away from the chaos I stopped to rest and catch my breath. After a few deep breaths I continued on my way. Even though I was moving further away from the fight I could still hear it. I got out of range of it when I reached my apartment.

While I was changing out of my uniform I got a call. I picked up the phone and answered it.

"Hello," I said.

"Hey, Kushina."

A smile appeared on my face. "Oh, hi, Kevin," I said.

"Another monster is attacking the city again," said Kevin.

"Yeah, I know," I said. "I was just down there. It appeared out of nowhere and started attacking people."

"What…you were there," said Kevin, shocked. "Are you okay? Are you hurt?"

"No, I'm all right," I said, reassuringly. "I left the scene before any real damage was caused."

"Are you sure because I can come over…," Kevin said, but was interrupted.

"No, Kevin," I said, "that's not necessary. Honestly, Kevin, I'm fine."

"Well, okay," said Kevin, still unsure. "So I'll see you tomorrow?"

"Definitely," I said. "Do you have the assignment for tomorrow ready," I asked.

Kevin said "Well…kind of. I have some of it done, but I still have a lot left to do."

"Then what are you standing around talking to me for," I demanded. "Get on it."

"Right," said Kevin, hanging up and I followed suit.

I finished changing into some different clothes and put some extra herbs in my pack along with some more water. I had enough bandages in there so I didn't need more of those. The only food I packed in there this time was another apple and a plastic bag with a few pieces of raw meat inside of it. I remembered from last time that Olympus preferred to eat his meat raw so I didn't cook it. After I finished making sure that I had everything that was needed I left my apartment and headed up the trail to the cave.

When I did reach the cave I hesitated. The same message went through my head as it did last time. My mind and body was screaming at me to run away, but despite my better judgment I still went anyway.

At the end of the cave I stayed in the shadows so Olympus wouldn't see me and looked at what he was doing. He was playing with some fire in his hand. He was making shapes out of the fire and throwing them at random spots on the cavern walls. Olympus was either bored or remodeling the entire cavern. For some reason I found this amusing and a small giggle escaped me.

Small as it was Olympus heard the sound and turned in the sound of my voice. My body was partially hidden in the shadows, but he still knew it was me. He nodded, acknowledging my presence.

"Kushina," he said.

"Olympus," I said, stepping out of the darkness.

"Something amusing," asked Olympus, seeing my smile.

I hid my smile with my hand and shook my head, saying "No."

Olympus said "I suppose you're here to look at my wounds again."

"Partially," I said, "But it's not really the reason why I have come."

"And what is your reason," asked Olympus, curious.

"I've come to get information. I've got a lot of questions and you're the only one who can give me the answers I seek," I said.

Olympus said "And if I don't?"

I thought about it for a moment. I made it look like I was thinking very hard about it when I actually wasn't.

I said "Well, for one thing, I'd go to the authorities and turn you in. then they'll probably send the power rangers and they will come here to initially destroy you." I said all of this quite casually as if it didn't actually matter to me, trying to make it sound so simple.

There was a moment of silence and in that silence I thought I made a horrible mistake. Because of what he was I thought he was initially going to attack me out of anger and because of the situation I was a threat to him. What did happen was something I didn't expect.

Instead of attacking me Olympus burst out laughing. It wasn't a warm kind of laugh, but it wasn't unpleasant either. His laugh startled me a little and it clearly showed on my face.

After a minute or two Olympus stopped laughing, but the smile didn't leave his face and this one didn't actually leave his eyes.

"You've got a lot of nerve," said Olympus.

I said "That's what my parents say. My father says it gets me into trouble," I said, shrugging my shoulders.

Olympus said "Not this time."

"Excuse me," I said, catching his words. I was a little bit confused.

Olympus saw this and quickly explained.

"If you want answers you will have them," he said. He gestured with his hand for me to take a seat next to him. I moved over to his side and knelt down next to him.

"Now then, what would you like to know," asked Olympus.

I said "I'll just get right to the point. Why are you trying to destroy our city?"

"My Mother, Queen Bansheera, needs this land to rebuild her palace and her kingdom. It is her right as well as mine."

"But why here," I asked. "Couldn't you rebuild it somewhere else? There are many people here who call Mariner Bay their home."

Olympus was shaking his head.

"That is not possible," he said. "Mariner Bay is the one place where my mother can rebuild her palace."

"But why, Olympus," I asked.

"Thousands of years ago demons ruled this land. That is until a powerful sorcerer from your kind imprisoned us all away in a tomb. This city stands right where the palace once stood. It cannot be built anywhere else, but here for us. Do you understand," said Olympus.

I opened my mouth to say no when I hesitated. I thought it over for a second. I put myself in his situation. Then I came to the realization that if I was put in the exact same situation that he was in I would actually be doing the exact same thing. If I came back and fond my home gone then I would do practically anything to get it back. Coming to this conclusion I looked back into his face.

"Yes…yes, I do," I whispered.

Olympus looked a bit surprised when I told him that I understood, but when he searched my face he could tell that I meant it. There was no deception there.

I said "Look, I've lived here all my life. I've never had to be pushed out o my home before, butI can understand where you're coming from now."

Olympus cocked an eyebrow.

"I may not have been put in your situation, but I will say this," I said. After hearing all you've just told me I have a feeling that I would be doing the exact same thing."

"Well…after hearing your side of things…I must say that if I were you then I would…be feeling the same way," said Olympus.

Even though I wasn't looking at his face I could tell that it took a lot of effort for Olympus to say such a thing especially to a human like me.

Olympus and I looked at each other. I stared straight into his eyes and I could tell that after this talk a line had disappeared. The ice between the two of us was now broken.


	7. Chapter 7

The Forbidden Love Chapter 7

From that day on things changed. Over the next few weeks things actually started to get better between the two of us. Over the next few weeks I visited Olympus in the cave every single day. I still went there to heck on his injuries and to make sure he was getting enough rest, but it was no longer the main reason of why I kept going there.

Every time I returned to the cave to visit Olympus my remaining fear of him seemed to vanish even more every single time. During this time I became a whole lot more comfortable with my presence in the cave with him.

To be honest it actually came to a point where I actually started to look forward to my visits with him. I even started to notice that he was starting to enjoy my company although I wasn't in his mind and couldn't really speak for him.

Olympus and I talked about many things during our meetings together. Olympus told me about his life and I told him about mine.

I told him much about my family, my childhood, and what I was planning to do with my life. Olympus asked a question every now and then, but he mostly just sat there quietly and listened to what I was saying. I did the same thing for him when he spoke to me.

Olympus told me much about what his life was like in the palace when it was still standing there thousands of years ago. He told me some things about the other demons in his life, but he kept on going back to one person in particular.

Olympus loved to talk about his mother. Even if we were talking about a completely different subject he kept going straight back to her. In the past I resented Queen Bansheera for all of her countless attempts to destroy Mariner Bay, but listening to Olympus go on about her has partially changed my opinion of her. It was hard not to when he kept telling me about what a good mother she was and still is to him. When I had asked about whom his father was he said that he had no idea. His mother had never given him that information. I pitied him for that because I knew my father and loved him very much even though the two of us did have our differences.

Olympus and I had become friends in our time together and have now become quite fond of each other.

Sometimes when I would go to the cave Jinxer, the caretaker of Olympus, would be there too. Unlike Olympus, Jinxer has taken a lot longer to even close to being comfortable with me. It took a lot of convincing to get him to trust me, he still thought I was going to turn the two of them over to the power rangers, but Olympus and I eventually got him to the point where he could.

At one time when I was visiting and Olympus was sleeping Jinxer told me some legends about their people. I ended up finding them quite interesting.

Spending time with Olympus was great, but it was causing me some problems.

These days when I handed in my assignments they were no longer neat and organized like they used to be, but they were now sloppy and only partially done. There were even times when I handed them in late. My teachers certainly weren't happy with me and they weren't the only ones who were.

My boss, Tony definitely was quite upset with me. With everything that was going on in my life now I was late for work a handful of times which had never happened before. Each time was either during the dinner of lunch-rush when every employee in the place was needed the most.

A few times Tina tried to cover for me until I got there, but she couldn't do everything at once. Tina had to stick to her own tables.

It was at these times when Tony was forced to fill in for me when I wasn't there. Tony had never been forced to do thin in the past and he wasn't at all happy about doing it now. With each time I didn't show up when I was supposed to he had to take over until I got there he just kept getting angrier and even more disappointed with me.

Because of how well I had worked there in the past Tony was cutting me a whole lot of slack, but it wasn't going to last much longer.

The last time I was late to work Tony told me that if I was late again he would have to let me go. Unfortunately, for me it would be coming much too soon.


	8. Chapter 8

The Forbidden Love Chapter 8

I was beginning to wake up. I wanted to go right back to sleep, but I knew that I had to get up.

I stretched out on the bed and let out a big yawn. I looked at the clock to check the time…I nearly had a heart attack.

"Oh shit," I shrieked, "I'm late!" It was after ten.

I jumped right out of bed and rushed to get dressed. I completely had to skip breakfast. I couldn't waste any time. I just grabbed my books and ran right out of my apartment. I only stopped to lock the door. After that I just kept on going.

The whole time I was running I was mentally kicking myself in the head. I shouldn't have stayed up so late last night. I was trying to finish some assignments along with some that were overdue for the past few days. I had been doing them in my bed and must've fallen asleep.

By the time I got to the university I was completely out of breath. In my rush to get to the college I had forgotten to pace myself.

It took me at least a few minutes to get the breath back into my body. Once I was stabilized I headed straight for the science building where my class was being held.

I was just going inside when my professor, Dr. Connors was coming out of it. We bumped into each other as he was coming out.

"Who, Kushina," he said. He put a hand on my shoulder, stopping me.

"Where are you going," asked Dr. Connors.

"To your class," I said.

Dr. Connors raised his eyebrows in surprise.

"My class is over," he said. "See me standing here."

My face completely dropped when I realized that I had totally missed his class.

"Oh my god," I said. "I'm so sorry."

"There's no need to apologize to me. After all it wasn't my time that was wasted here today," said Dr. Connors, firmly.

I nodded a sad expression on my face.

Dr. Connors face softened a little when he saw the look on my face.

"What's going on, Kushina," he asked. "Your work is sloppy, you hand it in late, you hardly show up for class anymore, and you're tired all the time."

"I know. I've just got a lot going on right now," I said.

"Well, I hope you sort it out. You have a lot of potential, Kushina. I'd hate to see you lose it," said Dr. Connors, a look of sympathy on his face. Dr. Connors turned around and walked away.

I made it to my next class and the rest I had that day. I made it through the rest of them without any incident or trouble. I was tired and forced myself to stay awake. After my last class, when I was in the college library, trying to do some homework, I couldn't stay awake anymore. I was finishing up some textbook questions when it just happened.

I woke up by chance a little while later and it was lucky that I did. I checked the time in the library and saw that it was very, very close to the time when my shift at the restaurant would start.

"Oh no," I said. "Tony will kill me if I'm late again!" I quickly packed my books into my bag and left the campus library.

The only good thing right was that I had brought my waitress uniform with me when I left my apartment this morning. This was so I wouldn't be wasting precious time by going all the way back to my apartment to get it. I just went to the nearest bathroom and changed right into my uniform.

Since the restaurant was close to my college I hardly had any time left. If I was going to have any chance of making it to my job on time I was going to have to take a bus. I was in luck a bus had just pulled up at the bus stop. Once I was on the vehicle I let out a big sigh of relief. I felt like I was going to make it now.

Boy was I wrong.

When the bus stopped a few stores down from the restaurant I jumped right off the steps and ran straight for it. I went through the door and let out a big sigh of relief when I did.

"Phew," I said, "I made it."

"No…you didn't."

I turned to find Tina standing not two feet away from me.

"What do you mean," I asked.

Tina said nothing, she only pointed to a spot above the kitchen. There was a clock that was handing there. I looked at it and my stomach dropped. It was 3:30 and my shift started at 3:00.

My face turned pale and I felt like I was going to throw up. A moment later I heard the voice that I least wanted to hear.

"Kushina," shouted Tony.

With dread I looked at where Tony was by the kitchen. He definitely wasn't happy. Tony pointed over his shoulder toward the back of the restaurant and I knew where he wanted to go. I followed him into his office.

Tony sat behind his desk and pointed to the seat that was in front of it.

"Sit," he said.

I did as I was told. There was silence for a little while, but after a few seconds Tony took in a deep breath and let it out slowly.

"All right, Kushina," he said. "I'll get right to the point. You're fired."

I knew that at this point there was no point in begging, but I did anyway.

"Please don't, Tony," I begged. "I need this job."

"You should've thought of that before you started slacking off," Tony shouted.

I lowered my head in shame and tried not to cry. Realizing that he had hit a nerve Tony softened up a bit and explained.

"Look Kushina," he said, "you're a nice girl, but you're just not reliable. I can't count on you anymore."

"I understand," I said, voice cracking.

Tony said "You're going to have to turn in your uniform."

"I know," I said, nodding.

Tony took something out of his desk and held it out to me. I saw that it was an envelope.

"Here's your pay for this week," he said.

I took it from him and put it into my purse.

"Give your uniform to Tina before you leave," said Tony.

"Of course," I whispered.

I then got up and headed for the door. Before I could leave Tony spoke from behind me.

"Kushina," he said.

I stopped and looked back at him, a look of misery on my face. His was one of sympathy.

"Take care of yourself," said Tony.

I only slightly nodded my head and left without saying anything else to him. There was nothing left for me to say.

I went to the girl's bathroom, changed out of the waitress uniform, and back into my regular clothes. When I came out I had the uniform neatly folded up in my hands.

Tina was waiting for me outside of the bathroom. I placed the bundle right in her hands.

"Here," I said.

Tina said "Oh, my dear, I'm so sorry."

"I should've expected it," I said, "I've had it coming for days."

"Is there anything I can do," asked Tina.

"Yeah," I said, "tell me where I can find a new job."

"Sorry, Kushina," said Tina, sadly, "but I don't."

I shrugged, saying "That's okay. It's a big city and I'm sure I'll be able to find something else."

Tina pulled me into a hug and I hugged her back.

"You take care of yourself now," said Tina.

"I said "Don't worry, I will." Tina gave me one last squeeze and let go.

As soon as I was leaving the restaurant I noticed the other employees giving me sympathetic glances. A few others were looking at me with smug expressions on their faces. I held my head up high and just ignored them. I may have just gotten fire from my job, but I still had my dignity.

I wasn't planning on going to see Olympus until later in the day. Right now I practically had nothing to do. I knew I still had some homework to finish up, but I needed to find a new job.

For now I just went walking around the city, asking for work. I should've been doing my work, but right now I needed the money a lot more. Unfortunately all of the ones that I went to said the exact same thing which was there were no longer any positions open and to look somewhere else.

I eventually stopped to take a break on a bench. I needed to think some things over. I didn't notice my friend Kevin come up behind me until he was right there.

"What are you doing," he asked.

"Begging for a job," I said, holding up a newspaper. "I got fired."

"Can't say I'm surprised," said Kevin, taking a seat next to me. "With how things have been going for you lately it was only a matter of time before you were laid off."

I opened my mouth to protest, but when I realized that he was right I stopped myself.

"I guess you're right," I said, sighing.

"Look, Kushina," said Kevin, "why don't you come over to my place tonight? My parents haven't seen you in a while and they'd love to have you."

I was shaking my head, no, before he was even finished.

"Sorry, Kevin," I said, "I'd love to come over, but I'm busy."

"That's all you are lately. You never have any fun anymore and you hardly even hang out with your friends," said Kevin.

I said "I've just got a lot on my mind now, Kevin."

"That's still no excuse to turn your back on your friends. I hate to say this, but I'm quiet disappointed in you," said Kevin. With that he got up from the bench and walked away.

It seemed that I was disappointing a lot of people lately. It couldn't be helped.

Right now I decided to return to my apartment for a little while. I took a bus and got back home. Once I reached my apartment I got something to eat and sat down to finish those assignments that I had been doing at the campus library. Fortunately, I was able to finish all of them this time unlike the last few weeks. When I was finished I put my college books away with at least some satisfaction at what I had accomplished.

I looked out of the window and saw that it was beginning to get dark. If I was going to see Olympus today then I was going to have to leave now. I took my pack along with a flashlight, I knew I would need one if I came back when it was dark, and headed out.


	9. Chapter 9

The Forbidden Love Chapter 9

When I entered the cave I could hear talking coming from the back of the cavern. As I kept moving further in I quickly recognized who the other person was. Jinxer must've come here before I did in order to check on Olympus. At one point the conversation stopped.

"Kushina, is that you," called Olympus. He must've heard my footsteps as I was coming down.

"Yes," I said. I entered the cavern and smiled at him.

Olympus returned mine with one of his own.

"Hello, Jinxer," I said.

"Good evening, Kushina," said Jinxer.

"That'll be all today, Jinxer," said Olympus.

"As you wish, Olympus," said Jinxer, bowing respectfully. He then left the cavern and exited out of the cave.

I moved over to Olympus's side. "How are you feeling today," I asked.

Olympus said "About the same as the last time you asked me. I'm getting tired of just sitting around here."

"Just be patient, Olympus. Now that your wounds have healed your strength should return to you in no time at all," I said.

All of his injuries have completely healed nearly a week ago. All he needed now to get back on his feet was to regain his strength.

Olympus let out a growl, but didn't say anything. Anyone else would think that growl would be seen as some sort of threat, but I knew that it wasn't. My time spent with him had taught me this. I knew that his growl only came from frustration of being hidden for so long and not at me.

I took out some meat I had brought and handed half of it to Olympus. He took a big bite out of his share as I began to cook mine over the fire. Just because Olympus liked to eat his raw didn't mean that I wasn't going to cook mine. With how hot the fire was it only took a few minutes for it to be ready for me to eat. When it was finished cooking I took a seat next to Olympus and began to eat mine.

As we were eating together I told Olympus about the most recent attacks on the city that his mother had ordered. I wasn't there for every attack, but I had heard about them from others. I described them in as much detail as I could.

While I was telling Olympus all of this I didn't notice the changes in his face and demeanor. AS I talked about each attack and how they were each defeated he kept getting angrier which clearly showed on his face and his body kept getting tense.

Suddenly, Olympus just snapped. He shouted "That's it! I've had enough!"

He had startled me so much with his outburst that I jumped a few inches. I turned toward him about to ask what the cause of his outburst was when I got a bit of a shock.

Olympus was trying to get up.

"Oh please, Olympus. You're still very weak and you need to conserve your energy," I said, concerned.

"You're wrong," said Olympus, taking his spear in hand. "I need to build up my strength in order to get my revenge."

"Bu-but," I stammered. I didn't get very far at all in my protest.

Olympus aimed his spear and a large energy ball flew out of the end. It hit a large rock inside of the cavern and as soon as it did it exploded into pieces. I covered my face with my arms so none of them would hit me.

"I can feel my strength returning, Kushina," said Olympus. "And when I have my full powers back, those who have crossed me will pay." Olympus stomped his foot and as soon as he did the fire flared up and he twirled his spear.

I moved closer and touched his arm. "I have no doubt that you'll get it Olympus," I said, "but the only way you'll get it is if you are able to regain your strength and the only way you'll be able to do that is if you get more rest." I tugged on his arm for emphasis.

Olympus turned toward me with a fierce expression on his face, but when he saw mine, filled with concern, his softened until it was back to the way it was before.

Olympus sighed, saying "All right, Kushina. You win." He sat back down, setting his spear back against the cavern wall.

"Look, Olympus, I'm not trying to hold you back I…I just don't want to see you get hurt." There was a lot of emotion in my voice when I said this. Realizing what I just said I flushed and turned my head away, embarrassed.

There was a pause.

"I know, Kushina," Olympus said, softly. "I know."

I turned my head back toward him and we looked into each other's faces.

Olympus stroked the side of my face with the back of his hand. At that moment I realized how close our bodies were. My heart was pounding harder and harder with each second. I had to look away. I would've stayed that way if Olympus hadn't put his hand under my chin and turned my head. Our eyes met for a breathless moment as heat surged through my body. Then his mouth was on mine, his breath warmly mingling with my own.

I had been kissed before, over the last year. Kevin, the most persistent of my swains and my best friend, had done it a few times since I started college. A moment ago I would have said that I liked kissing well enough.

This was different. Liking did not begin to describe the thunder in my body and heart. Hot sweetness raced from his lips through my body, making me tingle, making the breath come short in my lungs, making my whole body watery. Powerful awareness of all the places our bodies touched-from his palms on my back to my breasts, belly, and thighs crushed against his made the blood pound in my veins.

Olympus took his mouth away.

"No," I whispered, and pulled him back.

Olympus was gentler this time, easing his lips carefully over mine, pulling away briefly and then returning.

"A good thing he's holding me," I thought giddily, "else wise I'd collapse."

Olympus pulled away with a strangled laugh. He pulled me close to him and held me tighter. He stroked my back. I just sat there in his arms. After a few moments I looked up into his face and he looked down at mine. This time I brought my face up to his and kissed him. Olympus kissed me back gently and then passionately and I surrendered.

I wrapped my arms around his neck and held on tight. My lips were locked with his and I wasn't about to let go…neither was he. The only time our lips separated was when we came up for breath. His hands were roaming all over me, making my flesh tingle.

Under my hand his heart was racing and his own hands were moving adeptly. One was on my back, holding me to him while the other was on my inner thigh. There were some very odd sensations in parts of my body and the touch of his fingers made me gasp and shudder.

"Oh, Kushina," murmured Olympus. His lips strayed to my ear, to my neck, and down toward my breasts.

I gasped with pleasure and held on tighter. Now I was lying on the ground and the whole length of his body was against me. Olympus tore off my clothes. I tried to assist in this, but my hands weren't fast enough for him.

Then, without any warning, he was inside of me. There was a brief moment of pain, and I cried out, but it only lasted for a moment and I lost myself completely to him. The sensations going through my body were incredible and I felt like I didn't want them to go away. He did things that made me laugh and gasp in delight and there were times when it was my turn to make him laugh.

In all my life I never thought that a woman could actually feel the way I was this night or such wonderful sensations that I never actually thought could be possible…that is…until now.

Later that night I laid there beside him with his arm around me and my head on his broad chest. "Since the first moment I met you," I said, softly, "I've wanted to feel like this."

Olympus raised an eyebrow, saying "Even when I attacked and threatened to kill you?"

Nodding, I said "Yes."

Olympus chuckled and held me a bit tighter against him.

"I know I love you. Maybe I always have," I said.

Olympus stroked his hand, gently, through my hair. "I feel the same way," he said. "Ever since we met I have thought of nothing else, but you. Your face is always in my mind even when you're not here with me."

"Lately…I've been feeling like I can't bear to be parted from you for very long. My heart keeps pulling me back here to you even at times when my body should be doing something else. The heart wants what the heart want," I said, smiling a little.

After that Olympus and I just laid there in silence for a little while.

"You understand, right," said Olympus. "It won't be the same anymore."

"Yeah," I said.

"Are you really okay with that," asked Olympus.

"I am," I said. "If you're fine with it then I'm fine with it too."

There was a pause of silence.

"I'm sorry…I'm sorry I fell in love with you," I said.

Olympus turned his head toward me as I said this and he looked into my face. After a few moments he looked away. "That goes for the both of us," he said. "Though there are other people we should apologize to."

"We can't apologize, can we," I asked.

Olympus said "Yes."

I closed my eyes and smiled, snuggling deeper into his embrace.

Olympus stayed this way, entwined in each other's bodies for the rest of the night. At one point the fire went out and the air in the cave was cold. I was frightened by the darkness and the cold air made my body shiver, but I was all right. With his arms around me, my fear of the darkness quickly vanished with the heat radiating from his body giving me comfort and keeping me warm. Eventually I fell asleep, safe and secure in his embrace.


	10. Chapter 10

The Forbidden Love Chapter 10

It was still dark in the cave when I opened my eyes so I didn't know what time it was when I woke up. My eyes needed to adjust to the darkness, but after a few seconds I was able to see a bit more clearly.

Olympus was still sleeping and when I looked at his face he seemed so calm and peaceful. I stroked the side of his face. Olympus shifted in his position, but didn't wake up. I smiled, kissed his cheek, and sat up.

A hand wrapped around my wrist and kept me where I was. "Going somewhere," asked Olympus.

I turned around and found Olympus looking up at me. "I was…until now," I said.

Olympus smiled up at me and I smiled back.

"I'm sorry," I said, "did I wake you?"

Olympus shook his head and sat up next to me. He said "No, you didn't, but even if you did it was about time I got up anyway." Even though he said I didn't wake him up I took that for a "yes".

I sighed, saying "I'm sorry."

Olympus brought his finger to my lips. "Hush," he said. Olympus wrapped his arms around my waist and kissed me. My body went limp and if it hadn't been for his arm around em I would've fallen back to the ground.

When Olympus took his lips from mine I was out of breath. We looked into each other's eyes. I brought my lips to his and kissed him passionately. He responded with another one of his own. I wrapped my legs around him. Olympus wrapped his arms around me and nuzzled my neck. A moment later he licked the skin. I gasped and dug my fingers into his back. There would've been a repeat of what occurred last night if not for an unexpected visitor.

Olympus was beginning to work his way down my body when Jinxer barged in.

"Forgive me for being late, Olympus, I was delayed. I couldn't get away from…Oh my goodness," shrieked Jinxer. He stopped short when he saw the two of us together the way we were.

I screamed, trying to cover myself with my hands. Olympus assisted in this by wrapping his wings tightly around me.

"Just what do you think you're doing, Jinxer," demanded Olympus, growling.

Jinxer bowed low to Olympus, saying "I'm sorry, Olympus. Please forgive me."

Olympus opened his mouth to say something, but I spoke before he could.

"It's all right, Olympus," I said, placing a hand on his chest.

Olympus looked down at me. "But Kushina…," he said.

"It's fine," I said, trying to reassure him. "I'm sure he didn't mean to walk in on us. Right, Jinxer?"

"Yes, yes," said Jinxer, quickly. Jinxer knew that I was giving him an opening to get out of a bad situation and he was taking it.

"Now, I believe you had something you wanted to tell Olympus," I said.

Jinxer said "What? Oh yes! Yes, I did!"

"Then get on with it," said Olympus, annoyed. There was a look on his face showing that he was beginning to get impatient.

Jinxer immediately went into what he had started to tell Olympus before. At the same time I slipped behind Olympus. I wanted to change back into my clothes and I couldn't do that with his arms wrapped around me. Olympus was big enough for me to hide behind, but he spread out his wings as far as they could go, trying to make sure that I couldn't be seen from behind him. I was grateful for this because there were a few times when I had to move out from behind him in order to get to some of my clothes. My entire body would've been visible if not for his wings shielding most of it. I kissed his neck as I was dressing in order to show him my gratitude.

While I was dressing I was listening closely to what Jinxer was telling Olympus.

"It's getting crazy back there," said Jinxer. "The rangers have destroyed one of our strongest monsters and I don't have that many monster cards left. Diabolico is using them up faster than I can bring them."

Olympus didn't like this. I could hear a growl rise up in his throat and so could Jinxer. "That'll change once I'm back in command," he said.

I finished getting dressed, looked down at myself, and grimaced. My clothes were torn up in plenty of places. Anyone who saw as I went back to my apartment would think I was attacked or worse and start asking questions. Right now the last thing we needed was someone coming up here to investigate, but right now it was going to have to do.

I let out a sigh and got out from behind Olympus. I put a hand on his shoulder as I stood up. "I guess I'll be going now," I said. "I'll be back tonight."

Olympus took my hand and kissed it. "I'll be here," he said, softly.

I smiled at Olympus and started to leave when Jinxer stopped me.

"Wait, Kushina," said Jinxer.

I looked at him. "What is it, Jinxer," I asked.

"You can't go out dressed like that," Jinxer said, gesturing at my torn clothes. "Surely you must have something else to cover yourself with."

I shook my head, saying "I'm afraid that I don't. These are the only ones I brought with me. I pointed to the clothes I was wearing.

Jinxer shook his head. He said something I couldn't understand and a moment later a cloak appeared in his hand. Jinxer handed it to me. "Here," he said, "this should cover you."

I took the offering from him.

The cloak was made out of black velvet. It was quite soft and it had a silver cord to tie it with. I wrapped the cloak around my shoulder and tied it at the neckline in order to keep it in place so that it wouldn't slip off. I looked down at myself and was satisfied with the result. The cloak covered most of me and only the bottom half of my legs that weren't too torn up so I wasn't really worried about anyone seeing them. If anyone asked I could just say that I had a little bit of a fall.

I turned to leave Jinxer. "Thank you," I said.

Jinxer nodded in reply.

I then turned my attention over to Olympus. I smiled, blew him a kiss, and left the cavern.

Immediately after I left the cavern Jinxer turned on Olympus. "Just what are you playing at, Olympus," said Jinxer.

Olympus said "what do you mean?"

Jinxer shook his finger at Olympus. "You very well know what I mean," he said, no nonsense tone in his voice.

Olympus sighed, saying "I'm in love with her, Jinxer, and she feels the same for me."

"But, Olympus, what you're doing is impossible," exclaimed, Jinxer.

Olympus gave Jinxer a hard look. "And why is that," asked Olympus.

Jinxer said "Olympus…your mother would never allow it."

"I don't see any reason why she would," said Olympus.

"You don't…," said Jinxer, "Olympus be reasonable! She's a human you're a demon. It would never be able to work out between you two."

Olympus said "Kushina and I can work our way around that. We'll find a way."

"And how exactly are you planning to do that," stated Jinxer.

There was a pause.

"I'm not quite sure," said Olympus, "but I'm sure about one thing. Kushina and I will be together no matter what even if I have to give up my title and change into a human to do so!"

That completely shocked Jinxer and nearly pushed him off the deep end. He couldn't believe what he had just heard. "Olympus, think about what you're saying," he shouted. "You have responsibilities, obligations to your people. You are next in line for the throne. You can't give it up just for one human!"

"Enough," shouted Olympus. "I will hear no more of this from you, Jinxer. Insult Kushina like that again and there will be serious consequences. Do I make myself clear?"

Jinxer was about to protest, but stopped himself when he saw the expression on Olympus's face/ The look on his face was fierce as thought daring Jinxer to say something else against him and the look in his eyes was completely cold. Olympus meant to have his way and he knew he was going to get it.

"Very well," said Jinxer, sighing. Jinxer knew that he had lost this round, but there would be other opportunities to talk some sense into Olympus. Jinxer then went on with his business and gave Olympus his medicine.

Unknown to either of them I was still inside the cave. I was in a spot where they couldn't hear or see me, but I could clearly hear them. I heard every single thing in their entire argument. Once they were done arguing I stood there in silence.

After a few moments I left there as quickly as quietly as I could. I didn't want either of them to know that I had listened to what they had said, especially not after that.

Once outside I could now see that it was midmorning. I hadn't slept too late. I didn't run into anyone on the trail and no one saw me when I returned to my apartment.

When I got inside I took off the cloak Jinxer gave me and hung it on a hook by the front door. I put my pack down under it. I then went over to the kitchen table and sat down. I was hungry, but right now food was the last of my worries.

As much as I hated to admit it Jinxer was right. Olympus and I were of two different species. Not only that, but both of our kinds were sworn enemies. There's no way that anyone would allow us to be together if they found out about our relationship. Jinxer has no choice, but to let us be because he's a subordinate to Olympus. There's no telling what anyone else would actually think.

Olympus's words were ringing in my head. I didn't want to think about it, but one of us was going to have to make a choice in the end. Either Olympus was going to have to give up his throne and join me as a human or I was going to have to give up the life I have now and join him as a demon.

I really needed to think this over. I needed some advice on what to do here…and I knew just who to go to in order to get it. I got up from the table and went over to my room.

As I passed the bathroom I looked at myself in the mirror. I knew that I was going to have to change my clothes because of how torn up they were, but I didn't know how the rest of me looked. My hair was a bit messed up, some parts of my body were covered in dirt, but that was to be expected after sleeping on a cave floor the whole night. Also, my lips were swollen and I hadn't noticed it before, but there were some bruises on my skin. I was going to have to fix myself up before I even went outside my apartment again today.

I knew I needed to take a shower so I laid some clean clothes down on the bed so that I could quickly put them on after I cleaned myself up. After my shower I was going to have something small to eat and then head over to see the two people that could give me some advice with what to do in this situation. People I knew that could give me the answers that I really desperately needed right now.


	11. Chapter 11

The Forbidden Love Chapter 11

I knocked on the front door and waited for a response. I only had to wait a few seconds before I could hear someone coming up to the door from the other side. A moment later the door opened and I was face to face with my mother.

"Hi, mom," I said.

A big smile appeared on her face. "Hi, honey," she said. "What are you doing here? Don't you have class?"

"I have time. Classes don't start for a while yet," I said, waving away her questions.

"Won't you come in," she asked.

I nodded and my mother stepped aside to let me in. My mother went over to the bottom of the stairs. "Daniel, come down," she called. "Kushina's here!"

"Be there in a minute," said my father.

My mother and I went into the living room and sat down. I chose an arm chair while my mother picked the couch.

Less than a minute later my father came down and took a seat next to my mother. My father, Daniel, smiled at me. He said "It's good to see you here, Kushina. We haven't seen you around for a while."

"Yeah, I'm sorry about that," I said. "It's just that I've been so busy lately."

"Yes, we can understand that," said father. "With work and your studies you must be completely swamped."

"Actually…that's only half true," I said.

"What do you mean," asked mother.

"I'm actually between jobs right now. I'm looking for work now. You see I got fired a few days ago," I answered.

There was silence.

Then my mother spoke up with much concern in her voice. "Oh, honey, what happened," she asked.

"I was late to work and Tony fired me," I said.

My father wasn't at all too happy at hearing this. "Why didn't you call in," he demanded. "We could've helped you with this. We still can."

"I didn't want you to worry," I said. "Besides I've been looking for another job ever since I got fired."

"Have you found one yet," asked father.

"No, I'm afraid that I haven't. I've been to a lot of places already, but no one's taking anyone else n right now," I said, shaking my head.

My mother said "Oh, I'm sorry, honey."

I took in a deep breath and let it out slowly. I said "Thanks, mom, but…job problems aren't what I came here to talk about."

"Then why did you come here," asked my father.

I said "This isn't a social visit. Truth is that I need your advice."

"On what," asked mother.

I hesitated to answer. I was going to have to be careful with what I said here. I couldn't give away too much or else there was going to be a lot of trouble.

"There's…there's this guy that I'm seeing right now. A problem has come up and I don't know what to do," I said.

This caught their interest.

"What kind of problem," asked my father, leaning forward in his seat.

I didn't answer him.

"Did he hurt you," said my father, persisting.

There was a tone in his voice that made my head snap up. The look on his and my mother's faces told me all I needed to know.

"Oh, no! He hasn't hurt me," I said, quickly.

My parents exchanged a look.

"Are you sure about that," asked my mother.

I nodded my head. "Of course, it's not like that at all. Olym-Oliver would never hurt me," I said reassuringly. That was a really close call I nearly gave away Olympus's name. Fortunately, I was able to think of a substitute name just in time. Now I was hoping that my parents were way too caught up to notice it.

"Then what's wrong," asked my mother. "If that's not the problem then what is?"

I then explained to my parents the situation the best I could without giving away the true identity of Olympus. "Well, you see, Oliver is part of an extremely wealthy family," I said, chuckling. "Some would even say that they're royalty."

"If they're that wealthy, why haven't we heard of them before now," asked mother.

Father said "Your mother is right. With that kind of money they've had to have drawn a whole bunch of attention from the media and most of the community."

"That would be true if Oliver and his family were from Mariner Bay," I said. "Oliver and his entire family live out of town in another area. Oliver and I meet up whenever he's here in the city."

"I don't understand, dear," said mother. "You seem to have a good relationship with this young man. I can't seem to see what the problem is."

"Oliver isn't the problem here," I said. "It's his mother."

"Why is that," asked father.

I said "I haven't actually met her before, but Oliver and I are sure that she'll think that I'm not a suitable match for her son. Oliver has told me that he'd rather give put all his wealth and power to be with me and to even go up against his own mother. I love Oliver very much, but I don't want to see him give up everything he has just for my sake. It's come down to whether Oliver gives up the life he has now or I have to leave behind the life I have known and completely be a part of his. I love the life that I have right now, but I don't want Oliver to give up his for me. I'm so confused I don't know what to do."

The whole time I was talking I had my eyes averted from theirs so that I couldn't have to look into their faces. But now I lifted up my head and looked into their faces in order to see how they had reacted to all that I had just told the two of them.

My parents were shocked into silence and for a little while they couldn't really speak.

"Well…what do you guys think I should do," I asked.

That broke these two out of their trance.

"Well, dear, said mother, "I don't really know what to tell you. By what you've told us this Oliver person sounds like a nice boy."

"You mother's right, Kushina," said father. "If this young man is willing to give up the life he has now and be part of yours then he definitely cares for you." There was a pause. Also, having a lot of money doesn't hurt either."

"Daniel," scowled my mother.

"Father, how could you say that," I said, outraged. "I don't love him for his money!"

"I'm just saying," said dad, "that having all of that money wouldn't hurt, you'd be set for life."

I was shaking my head, not believing what I was hearing from my father. Dad was about to say something else, but the look my mother was giving stopped him in his tracks.

"Daniel, shame on you," said mother.

Dad looked away, a little shamefaced.

Mother turned back to me, saying "don't listen to him, Kushina. Your father doesn't know what he's saying." Father was muttering away to himself. Mother and I couldn't really hear him clearly, but we both had a pretty good idea of what he was saying. "Anyway, Kushina, this must be your choice. We can't decide it for you."

"But I don't know what to choose," I said.

She said "Then go with what your heart tells you. If you do that then you'll never go wrong."

"If you say so, Mother," I said, sighing.

Mother leaned forward and put a hand on my shoulder. "Just remember, Kushina, said mother, "No matter what you choose…you will have a proud mother and father, too." Mother said that last part with a side glance aimed at my father. He nodded in agreement with her although I could still see on his face that he would like to have so much money in his hands.

"Thanks guys," I said. I got up from my chair. "Well, I'd better get going."

"You're leaving already," said mother.

"Yeah, sorry," I said, apologetically.

"But, honey, you just got here," said mother. Father said "Your mother's right. Surely you can stay just a little longer."

"Love to, but can't. I have things to do," I explained. My parents followed me over to the door as I went to leave.

Father stepped up first and kissed me goodbye. "You'd tell us if this guy did hurt you, right?"

"Don't worry, daddy," I said, giving him a reassuring hug, "I'd tel you if anything like that happened to me."

My father still had that look on his face. I knew why he would still have his doubts. Although the clothes I was wearing were covering most of the bruises I had gained from the night before there were still some obvious ones that weren't covered up. My father was taking me at my word, but that wasn't going to stop him from still being a bit concerned for my safety.

My mother was next up. She gave me a hug and a kiss goodbye. "Just remember, Kushina," said mother, giving me a squeeze. "We'll still love you no matter what you decide and you'll have our support."

"Thanks, mom," I said, squeezing her back.

"Listen to your heart," she whispered.

She and I gave each other one last kiss and let go of each other. Dad handed me my handbag, book bag, and I left for the university.

While I was walking I went over what my mother had told me in my head. I knew I was going to have to follow my heart, but there was one problem. My heart was going in two directions right now. I wanted so badly to be with the man I loved, my heart was completely pulling me in that direction. The only problem is that I would be leaving behind a family and a life I had known for years. This was going to be the toughest decision that I was ever going to make in my life.

I was so caught up in my own thoughts that I didn't notice the large jeep coming toward me until it was right on top of me. There was a screech as tires skidded and a car came to a quick stop.

That snapped me out of my little trance. I shouted "Hey, watch where you're going!" I got a good look at the people in the jeep.

Both of them were women that were either the same age as me or a little bit older. The two of them were white, but the one in the driver's seat had blonde hair while the other had dark hair.

The one with the dark hair stood up in her seat. "Why don't you watch where you're going," she shouted back. "Or try paying attention as you cross the street!"

"Follow your own advice," I shouted. I walked away and continued across the street.

As I was moving away the two women in the jeep turned to each other. "Can you believe that girl," asked Kelsey Winslow. "She was completely rude. Didn't realize that she could've gotten seriously injured if we hadn't been paying attention to what was in front of us."

Dana Mitchell nodded her head in agreement with her friend. "Yeah and I know that girl, too," said Dana.

Kelsey asked "Really, how's that?"

"She goes to the same college as me," answered Dana. "We don't have any classes together, but I've seen her around."

As Kelsey and Dana were talking to each other they hadn't realized that a long line of cars was building up behind them. They only came to this realization when one of the cars behind them beeped quite loudly. Dana put the car back into gear and drove them away, heading back to the Aqua base.

As for me I finally made it on time to class for the first time in a few weeks. I barely made it, but at least I got there. Unfortunately, that was the only good thing that I managed to do in my classes today. My mind kept on straying from what my professors were telling me and back to what I was thinking about on the streets before I was…interrupted.

I managed to take a few notes when I did pay attention and keep track of the new assignments that were handed to me, but that was it. By the end of the day, after going back and forth on whether to stay with the life I had now or leave it forver and join Olympus in his, I had made my decision.


	12. Chapter 12

The Forbidden Love Chapter 12

Before I returned to Olympus I went back to my apartment. I needed to drop some stuff off, pick a few things up, and change into some different clothes. As I was about to walk out the door I stopped.

I took the cloak Jinxer had given me off of the hook I had hung it on, wrapped it around me, and tied it in place. After that I left my apartment and headed up the trail to the cave. As usual I didn't really run into anyone as I was going up the trail.

The night was a little colder than usual even with the cloak on. But as I was moving closer to the cavern at the back of the cave the warmth of the fire was already starting to heat me up.

"Kushina," called Olympus, hearing me coming.

"I'm here, my love," I said.

He had probably been trying to figure out if I was Jinxer or not.

I turned the corner and smiled at Olympus. He smiled right back. I dropped my bag, cloak and went straight over to him. He held out his arms to me and I went right into them. Olympus and I shared a nice long kiss. After we broke the kiss I laid my head against his broad chest while he kept his arms around me with his eyes against my hair.

"Sorry it took me so long to come back," I said. "I needed some time to think a few things over."

"Really, like what," he asked, curious.

"I heard you and Jinxer arguing," I said.

Olympus caught his breath and his body seemed to stiffen up. "You heard all that," he asked.

I nodded, saying "It was kind of hard not to. After all you two didn't actually try to keep your voices down."

For a few moments there was only silence.

"I'm not letting you go, Kushina," said Olympus.

I said "I know, my love. That's why when it's time for you to go back…I'm coming with you."

Right when I said this Olympus's head snapped down with a complete look of shock on his face. "Wait, Kushina. You mean…," he began.

I said "I won't let you abdicate your throne Olympus."

"But, Kushina, you'd be giving up so much," he said.

I said "I don't need anything else as long as I'm with you."

"If that's really what you want, Kushina, then I won't stop you," said Olympus, chuckling. "I know I'd be hard-pressed to stand in your way."

"Good," I said. "Besides, you wouldn't make a good human anyway."

Olympus opened his mouth to protest, but then he closed it when he realized that what I was saying was true.

I said "There's still one thing we need to figure out."

"Yeah…," said Olympus. "How are we going to convince my mother?"

That was the one big question that was still on both of our minds. Fortunately, an answer came to us only a few minutes later…in the form of Jinxer. Olympus and I were trying to think of some ideas of what to do when he showed up.

"I'm running out of ideas," Olympus said to me.

I looked at Olympus with a sad expression on my face. At that moment Olympus and could hear someone moving down toward us.

Olympus picked up his double-bladed spear and aimed it in that direction while I pressed myself further into his side. "Show yourself," ordered Olympus.

Jinxer appeared in front of us not a minute later. "It's me, Olympus," said Jinxer. "I've brought your medicine."

"It's about time you got here," said Olympus. He put down his double-bladed spear and let Jinxer approach.

Suddenly an idea shot up in my head. I gasped. Olympus and Jinxer turned their attention over to me.

Olympus was about to take his medicine, but stopped himself. "What's wrong, Kushina," asked Olympus.

I said "Nothing wrong, Olympus. As a matter of fact I just got a really good idea."

"Out with it, then," said Olympus. "What is it?"

Instead of answering Olympus I now turned to Jinxer. "Jinxer," I said, "there's something I must ask you."

"Yes," he said.

"Is there any way you can change me into a demon," I asked Jinxer.

This completely shocked Olympus and Jinxer. Whatever they thought I was going to say they didn't really expect that.

Jinxer wouldn't answer me at first.

"Well," I said, "is there a way?"

"I…I don't know," stuttered Jinxer. "I'd have to check my spells and incantations, but I don't know if it's even possible. Nothing like that has ever been done before."

"Jinxer's right," said Olympus. "Nothing like that has ever been done in our history."

"We have to try, Olympus," I said, wrapping my arms around one of his. "This might be our one chance to be together. If we don't do that we might very well lose this chance forever. We have to make a choice now."

Olympus let out the breath he had been holding in for the past few minutes now. You're right," he said.

Jinxer said "Olympus, I don't think…"

"I don't want to hear it, Jinxer," said Olympus. "Kushina's right and besides…time's running out."

Jinxer looked like he was about to protest ever further, but then he seemed to think the better of it and stopped himself. "As you wish, Prince Olympus," said Jinxer.

I then held out my hand toward Jinxer. "I'll take that," I said, referring to the medicine. "you have a lot of work ahead of you."

Jinxer reluctantly obeyed and left the cave.

"Do you think he'll find anything," I asked Olympus, giving him the elixir.

"I don't know," he said, taking a large gulp of the elixir, "but he'd better or there's going to be trouble. Right now we need something to transform you into one of us and we need it soon."

"I agree, but you need to take your medicine," I said. I brought the vile back up to his lips and he gulped the rest of the elixir down into his body.


	13. Chapter 13

The Forbidden Love Chapter 13

The next afternoon I did not waste any time. As soon as I was finished with my last class for the day I headed straight for home. I wanted to finish everything I needed to do today so I could go see Olympus. On my way to my apartment I ran into Kevin.

Now Kevin was another reason why I wanted to leave the university so quickly. The whole day he had been trying to catch my attention. I worked very hard to ignore him the whole time, but Kevin absolutely wouldn't take the hint. I had a feeling that I knew what he wanted my attention for and I wasn't about to give him that opportunity. Unfortunately, he caught me just as I was about to leave the campus grounds.

"Hey, Kushina, wait up," he called.

I closed my eyes, groaning "Oh no. Not now." I kept on walking and Kevin quickened his pace so that he could reach my side.

"'I've been trying to talk to you all day," he said.

I said "Really? I haven't noticed."

"Don't give me that, Kushina," said Kevin. "I know you. You've been avoiding me for a few days now."

"Look, Kevin, I've just been busy," I said.

"You're always busy these days. Listen there's been something I've been meaning to ask you," he said.

"What is it," I said, sighing.

Kevin said "I was wondering if you'd like to have dinner with me tonight. A new restaurant just opened up and I was told that they have some good food there."

I was shaking my head before Kevin was even finished speaking. "I'm sorry, Kevin, but no," I said.

Kevin definitely didn't like hearing this. "What? Why," he asked a pitiful expression on his face.

"Look, Kevin, you're a very nice guy and you've been an extremely good friend to me all time, but the truth is I've found someone else," I said.

Kevin said "But…but, Kushina, we've known each other for quite a long time and the two of us have been really good friends since we first met."

"And that's my point, Kevin," I said. "That's all we ever will be, just friends."

"I thought we had a connection," said Kevin.

"You thought that, Kevin. Look, Kevin, I like you I really do and I want us to remain friends. I really don't want us to lose that friendship, Kevin. So please don't push this any further," I pleaded.

For a minute we just stood there staring at each other.

My face was like stone. I was refusing to give ground. Kevin looked like he was being torn apart. I didn't want to put Kevin through this, but right not it was the only way to get him to back off. Finally Kevin gave in once he realized that I wasn't going to change my mind.

Kevin sighed, saying "All right, Kushina. If that's the way you feel I won't bother you anymore."

"We're still friends, Kevin. We'll always be friends. That won't even change," I said, softly.

"Yeah…friends," he said, miserably.

I said "I have to go. So I'll see you around."

"Yeah, okay," said Kevin.

I then turned around and started walking away. Kevin stayed where he was, watching miserably. I didn't look back, knowing that if I did I'd turn around and head right back. I had already made my choice and I wasn't going to change it. Right now Olympus was back at the cave waiting for me and I wasn't about to keep him waiting for long.


	14. Chapter 14

The Forbidden Love Chapter 14

By the time I reached my apartment I was quite hungry. I wanted to see Olympus as soon as possible, but I needed to clean myself up first and have a little something to eat. I went into the bathroom with my brush in hand. It only took me a few minutes to brush the knots out of my hair.

When I came out of the bathroom I went into the kitchen to get something to eat. As I passed by the kitchen table I noticed something that wasn't there before. It was a rolled up piece of paper tied up with a string. Curious I went over to the table, picked up the paper, untied the string, and unrolled the paper. I then read the message that was written on the parchment.

_Kushina, come quickly. Jinxer says that he may have found something we can use._

_Olympus_

Olympus must've had Jinxer send this message for him. The letter was short, but its meaning was perfectly clear.

I needed to get down to the cave. My appetite completely disappeared. Honestly, right now I was so excited that I didn't even notice it go away. I didn't waste any time.

I ran straight out of the apartment with enough time to grab the cloak from where it was hanging by the door. I didn't even bother to lock up. I was too caught up in my thoughts to do even that.

I was about half way there when it happened.

Out of nowhere there was a loud explosion.

"Huh," I exclaimed, "what was that?" More explosions came after the first and I could hear shouting in the distance. "What's going on?"

I picked up speed and headed toward the sound. As I was getting closer and closer to it I realized that it was coming from the same exact direction of Olympus's hiding place. A feeling of dread began to grown inside of me. Getting closer I could recognize one of the voices as belonging to Olympus while the other one sounded familiar to me, but I didn't recognize it.

I arrived at the cave and my stomach dropped when I saw what was going on. Olympus must be at full strength by now because he was fighting.

Olympus was battling with a young man. The explosions I had been hearing were coming from the young man's blaster and the fireballs coming from Olympus. Jinxer was there too, but he was staying a safe distance away from the two figures.

I was hiding behind some bushed trying to make sure that I wasn't even seen by any of them.

After a closer look at the person Olympus was fighting against I finally realized who it was. It was he red power ranger. He must've found this place while he was out jogging. I could tell by the clothes he was wearing. I had a feeling that the red ranger must've spotted Jinxer as he was going to see Olympus and followed him to the cave.

Olympus and the red ranger seemed to be even matched at first. But after a few moments it was quite clear that Olympus had the upper hand in this fight. At one point when the red ranger was distracted Olympus took advantage of the situation and tripped him up. The red ranger flew into the air and landed on his back a few feet away from where he was standing. I couldn't help, but wince when he hit the ground. That really had to hurt.

The ranger moaned in pain while Olympus laughed and advance toward the young man with his double-bladed spear pointed straight at him.

"Time to end it," said Olympus.

The ranger got back up onto his feet and backed away. He was taking a step back with each step that Olympus was taking toward him.

I then noticed the ranger looking in every direction as if he was searching for something. Then I saw his eyes rest in one spot in particular, but it only lasted for a second before he turned his attention back to Olympus.

Something was up.

I looked in that same direction and spotted what had caught the guy's interest. There was a hovercraft coming out way. The ranger must've called for it sometime during the fight. Olympus couldn't see it coming it was out of his line of sight. He wouldn't be able to see it until it was right on top of him.

"You're finished, Ranger," said Olympus.

"Oh, I don't think so," said the power ranger.

Olympus swiped at him with his double-bladed spear.

The ranger dodged the attack by doing a flip in the air. There was a shout "Lightspeed Rescue!" Right at the same time the red suit of the red ranger appeared on the young man's body.

As soon as the red ranger landed he turned on the spot and shot a few shots from his blaster at Olympus. Olympus blocked the shorts with his own weapon, none of them managed to hit him.

The hovercraft had finally reached the scene and was now hovering behind the red ranger. The red ranger took this opportunity to try to get away. He jumped right into the driver's seat and began to move away. If he thought he was going to be able to escape from Olympus that easily then he was wrong.

Olympus saw the red ranger trying to escape and he wasn't about to let that happen. "Oh no, you don't," he said. Olympus shot fireballs at the retreating ranger, none of them made an impact. "You're not getting away," shouted Olympus. Olympus flapped his wings until he was off the ground and flew right after the fleeing ranger.

It was at that same moment that I chose to come out of my hiding place. "Olympus, no, come back," I shouted.

Jinxer was shocked at my sudden appearance. He actually jumped a few feet when I burst out of the bushes. "Kushina," he said, surprised.

"Come back," I shouted, again.

It was no use at all. Olympus was too far away and even if he was close enough to hear me he wouldn't listen to me. Olympus was way too focused on the red ranger to stop now. I had to move fast if I was going to at least have a chance of keeping up with Olympus or keeping him in my sight.

I ran straight after Olympus as fast as I could.

"Miss Kushina, wait! You won't be able to keep up with him," shouted Jinxer.

I looked back at him as I was running. "Watch me," I shouted back. I faced forward and kept on going.

"Hey, wait for me," yelled Jinxer.

Jinxer tried to follow me, but there was absolutely no way he was able to keep up with me. I was so much faster than him. Besides, his body wasn't really made for running very fast. Instead of wasting energy trying to keep up with me, Jinxer went back to the lair where all of the other demons were residing.

My body was being pushed to its limit. I'm telling you I'd never run so hard in my life. I was barely able to keep up with Olympus. I was no match for his flight abilities. The only thing I was able to do was keep Olympus in my sights. I didn't dare to take my eyes off of him for fear of losing him. The only problem is that I wasn't watching where I was going and kept bumping into people. I kept getting rude remarks, but I didn't even have time to apologize.

Olympus was throwing fireball after fireball at the red ranger. He was trying to shoot the red ranger as hard as he could out of the sky. The red ranger had been very lucky so far, but unfortunately for him that luck of his wasn't going to last much longer. With the next attack Olympus wasn't going to miss.

The red ranger dodged a fireball that was aimed at the left wing of his vehicle. Paying attention to that attack distracted him from another. Olympus had a second fireball waiting behind the first. It hit directly at the back of the hovercraft on the engine. The red ranger tried very hard to stabilize his vehicle, but he was already going down.

People on the ground screamed in terror as they saw what happened. Olympus's laughter could clearly be heard over everything else. There was a loud crash as the red ranger and the hovercraft crash landed behind some buildings a few blocks away.

Olympus shot straight down for the crash site. To everyone, including me, his intentions toward the red ranger were quite clear.

Everyone was running away in the opposite direction in order to get as far away as possible from the demon. But I was still moving toward Olympus, not changing my course.

The red ranger had crashed into a large courtyard in the middle of a shopping area. Like I did before I followed the sound of a battle zone. Once I reached the scene the two of them had started fighting again. I hid next to a building close by them, but I made sure that they couldn't see me.

Olympus and the red ranger had both somehow gotten separated from their weapons before I had got there. So these two were now fighting hand to hand and Olympus was using his Star Power every chance he got. When Olympus aimed a kick at the red ranger the ranger dived behind the fountain inside the courtyard. At the same time he picked put his blaster from where he had dropped it. As soon as he was behind the fountain the red ranger started shooting away at Olympus. Olympus flew into the air to escape the shots. He then expelled fire from his hand and aimed it straight at the red ranger. The red ranger had to duck in order to avoid being burnt alive from the attack. This gave Olympus the chance he needed to retrieve his own weapon.

With his double-bladed spear back in his hands Olympus bolted right for the red ranger. Seeing Olympus coming toward him the ranger pointed his blaster straight at Olympus, but Olympus got to him before he could even shoot. Olympus knocked the blaster out of the red rangers hands with his spear. The blaster went flying and landed only a few feet away from me. I didn't notice it at first, my attention was occupied.

Olympus now had the red ranger cornered. The ranger had been knocked down to the ground and Olympus was standing over him with a foot on his stomach to keep him down. He held his weapon high over his head.

"This is how it ends, Ranger," said Olympus.

Olympus went to plunge his weapon into the ranger's body and the ranger held his arms over him as if to block he attack…the spear never even reached him.

Shots from a blaster came out of nowhere and hit Olympus directly in the chest. He was thrown back from the red ranger and landed heavily on his side. "Who dares…," he demanded.

We looked in the direction where the shots had come from and spotted who did them. It was the other five power rangers. They all had their weapons out, coming to the rescue of their comrade. The red ranger rolled in their direction when he saw them. He wanted to put some more distance between him and Olympus.

"Carter, are you all right," asked the pink ranger.

"I'm fine," said the red ranger, Carter. He got up with only a little bit of help from the blue and green rangers.

As soon as Carter was standing he pressed a couple of buttons in a certain order. A moment later a red V appeared in front of him and a bit after a staff like weapon materialized from it. I recognized the weapon as a V- Lancer. I'd seen the rangers use it before. It was a very powerful weapon and if I wasn't worried for Olympus before I definitely was now.

"I don't know how you survived, Olympus," said the red ranger, taking the V-Lancer in hand, "but you're going to wish you never came back."

Without another word the red ranger charged Olympus and the other five rangers followed his example. With a roar Olympus ran out to meet them. Olympus shot a fireball straight at the power rangers, but none of them wavered. Olympus took a swing at the red ranger with his spear, but the red ranger blocked it with his V-Lancer.

Olympus shot an energy blast at the titanium ranger. The titanium ranger absorbed the energy into his battle ax and shot it right back at Olympus. It hit him right on the shoulder. Olympus took a few steps back from the impact. The titanium ranger held his arms straight out athis sides. The pink and yellow rangers jumped off a sholder for an extra boost. Both of them landed a pretty hard kick on Olympus. Olympus retaliated by attacking them with fireballs. Both of them couldn't dodge them in time, they didn't have enough time to maneuver. The fireballs hit the two rangers hard and threw them right through a brick wall.

The blue and green rangers now stepped in. The two of them shot at Olympus with their Rescue Blasters. Olympus ran straight for them. He was twirling his spear quickly in front of him, blocking their shots. The two rangers quickly moved backwards when they realized that their shots weren't getting through. When Olympus got close enough the two of them he knocked their Rescue Blasters out of their hands. He then sliced his double-bladed spear across their chests. Small explosions happened on their suits and they were thrown to the ground. Their suits protected them, but Olympus's attack still caused damage. The blue and green rangers were left moaning on the ground.

Now only the titanium and red rangers were the two he had to fight now.

As Olympus turned to now face those two my heart was pounding extremely hard. The whole time he was fighting I was restraining myself from even going out there. Olympus was fighting, but he was still getting hurt. I didn't know how much longer I could stand just standing on the sidelines. I know that my loyalty should be with the rangers because they were protecting Mariner Bay I wanted Olympus to win.

The red ranger, titanium ranger, and Olympus were circling each other. Olympus needed to finish this quickly. It was only a matter of time before the other four rangers recovered and jumped back into the fight. This thought must've been in his mind like mine because less than a minute later he attacked first.

Olympus expelled fire from his hands and aimed it at the two remaining rangers. The two rangers rolled out of the way. At the same time the titanium ranger changed his weapon back into a blaster. He then blasted away at Olympus. Olympus wasn't able to block these and the shots exploded on his chest.

"Olympus," I said.

Olympus shot an energy blast at the guy. When the titanium ranger got hit his body did a complete flip in the air and landed hard on his stomach. I winced when I heard the impact.

Olympus and the red ranger had their weapons locked together. They were moving so fast that I could hardly see their attacks and I could barely keep up with their movements. I could clearly hear it when the two weapons made contact.

While I was watching Olympus and the red ranger fight some other movement caught my eye. The rest of the rangers had now recovered and rising back to their feet.

"Oh no," I whispered. I looked back at Olympus to see if he had seen them, but he hadn't. I wanted to call out and warn him, but I knew that doing so would give away my position.

The red ranger was now gaining the upper hand in this fight and Olympus was beginning to lose ground. He was losing more by the minute. Olympus was getting a few flows in, but now it was he who was on the defensive while the red ranger was on the offensive.

Then Olympus made a very big error in judgment. At some point he did notice the other rangers coming up from behind him. He could see them coming up in the reflection of the red ranger's helmet. Olympus turned his attention over to them and that was a mistake. By doing this Olympus let his guard down and that was the opening that the red ranger had been waiting for.

While Olympus was distracted the red ranger swiped at him with his V-Lancer. It was a direct hit. The red ranger gave Olympus a very hard kick right in the stomach.

Olympus screamed and bent over in pain. Shots were then fired from the rest of the rangers. He turned toward them as if he was going to attack, but didn't get the chance. There were so many shots coming from the rest of the rangers at one time that he wasn't able to block all of them. A handful of those shots made a direct hit on his body. He was forced down to one knee.

"We've got him now," shouted the titanium ranger.

The yellow, pink, blue, and green rangers attacked Olympus again as he was trying to get back up. The blue and green rangers fired their Rescue Blasters at his legs, forcing Olympus back down. The yellow and pink rangers jumped forward and aimed powerful kicks at his chest which scent Olympus flying backward.

Olympus landed hard on his back. His double-bladed spear slipped from his grip and landed next to him close by.

I had to slap my hands over my mouth in order to smother the scram that was trying to escape. "No," I whispered. "Please get up. Olympus, get up."

Olympus was trying to rise, using his spear as leverage to help himself get back up. Unfortunately, he was only able to get back up on one knee like before. Olympus looked up with a look of menace on his face and in his eyes.

The power rangers were advancing on him with their weapons pointing straight at him. The rangers were meaning to finish him for good now.

I had to help Olympus and I had to do it now. I knew if I didn't do something now Olympus was going to end up dead in just a few seconds. I quickly searched for something to use as a weapon. I was looking for anything that could be of use to me. It was then that I spotted the red rangers Rescue Blaster only a few feet from where I was standing.

The red ranger said "After this day you won't be hurting anyone ever again."

Olympus backed away from them. With each step they took toward him he took one back.

"Olympus," said the red ranger.

Olympus looked back at him with narrowed eyes.

"It's over."

All of the power rangers aimed their weapons directly at Olympus's heart. But before any of them could fire their weapons something completely unexpected happened.

Out of nowhere a voice shouted "Leave him alone!"

At the same time all six of the rangers were hit with lasers. Taken by surprise the power rangers didn't have any time to react. They screamed and let out exclamations of surprise. All of them were knocked off of their feet. There was a lot of moaning and groaning as the rangers tried to right themselves.

At the same time they all heard someone running close and suddenly stop in front of them.

"Don't move."

The rangers looked up to face the one who had attacked them. They were expecting to see another demon in front of them, but what they didn't expect to see… was a human.

I had finally come out of my hiding place and was now standing protectively in front of Olympus. I had the red rangers Rescue Blaster pointed straight at them. My hands were shaking slightly, but I stood firm.

Olympus was looking at me in shock. He was surprised of my sudden appearance. "Kushina," he said.

Hearing my name I turned a little and smiled at him behind me.

The rangers were shocked to see me as well, but in a completely different way.

"What the hell are you doing," shouted the red ranger. "He's the enemy!"

"Not to me," I said.

"Don't do anything foolish now," said the green ranger, getting to his feet. "Just move aside and there won't be any trouble." The green ranger took a step toward me.

I snapped the weapon in his direction, stopping him in his tracks. "Not another step," I said, warningly.

"Look just calm down," said the blue ranger, moving forward.

I redirected the blaster right at him. "Move and I fire," I said.

Most of the rangers knew I wasn't playing any games, but the green ranger still had to try his luck. "Just put the gun down." He said. He took a few steps toward Olympus and I despite my warning.

I shot directly at the ground just a few inches away from his feet to show that I meant business. "Stay where you are."

"Do as she says, Joel," ordered the red ranger.

The green ranger, Joel, obeyed, not making any other move toward us.

During this whole time the pink and yellow rangers were looking at me closely. These two knew that they had seen me before, but they just couldn't figure out where.

Since my attention was mostly on the male rangers I was oblivious to their stares. Their helmets, also, contributed to this fact. I only was able to realize what they were doing when one of them spoke up.

"I know you," said the pink ranger.

We all turned our attention over to her, but I still kept the Rescue Blaster pointed at them.

"You know that girl, Dana," asked the titanium ranger.

"Yeah, she goes to the same college as me," said the pink ranger, Dana, nodding.

The yellow ranger said "We saw her yesterday, too. We were heading back to the Aqua base when we met her."

I didn't realize what they were talking about at first, but now I did. Even though I couldn't see their faces I recognized their voices. "You're the ones that nearly ran me over," I exclaimed.

Olympus didn't like that at all. He growled when he heard this. Fire started to form in his hand. He was going to attack. I shook my head, no. The message in my eyes was clear. The fire disappeared from his hand.

The transaction between Olympus and me did not go unnoticed.

"Why are you helping him," demanded the yellow ranger. "He and his kind are trying to destroy our home."

"This is no longer my home," I said.

"Oh really," said the green ranger, "and where is your home?" There was a lot of sarcasm in his voice.

"My home is anywhere," I answered. "That is if I'm with the one I love." I said the last part with a glance at Olympus.

Before the rangers didn't really know why I was taking Olympus's side, but if they didn't know before then they definitely did now.

"What," the rangers all shouted in union.

"Please tell me I heard wrong," said the yellow ranger. "It sounded like you just said that you love Olympus."

"A monster," emphasized the blue ranger.

"Yes," I said, nodding, "yes I do."

There was silence. None of the power rangers actually knew what to say. They didn't really know for sure if I was joking or if I was actually being serious.

A hand was put on my shoulder.

"Kushina."

I turned my head to come face to face with Olympus. He had finally managed to get back up on his feet. "Come," he said, softly, "It's time to go." He was right it was time. I moved closer to Olympus's side.

"Wait," said the red ranger. "Think about what you're doing."

"Oh I have and I've made my choice," I said, firmly with a tone of finality in my voice.

Titanium ranger said you're making a big mistake."

I laughed.

"Listen to me, I've lived among them for years," persisted Titanium Ranger. He pointed at Olympus as he said this. "If you go with him, you won't last long."

"That's what you think," I said, smugly.

"You're joining the enemy," said the red ranger. "Don't you understand? If they succeed, Mariner Bay will completely be destroyed along with everyone in it!"

I put my arm around Olympus and laid my cheek against his chest, "I'm sorry, Ranger," I said in a soft, throaty voice. I lifted my chin and he kissed me. "But you see, I support a different cause."

Olympus wrapped an arm around me and held me close to him. Olympus turned his attention back over to the power rangers who were now just standing there watching. They weren't even going to try to stop me from leaving with Olympus. Coming to a decision Olympus made the choice to not continue the fight at the moment.

"We will finish this later," said Olympus, a bit of malice in his voice.

Olympus then teleported the two of us out of there. As he was using his power to get us out of there I tossed the Rescue Blaster aside. I wasn't going to need it anymore. It only took a few seconds and we were gone.

It took a minute or two to register what had just happened after Olympus teleported the two of us out.

"Please tell me that didn't just happen," said the blue ranger, Chad.

The red ranger, Carter, went over to where his Rescue Blaster was lying on the ground. When Carter reached his weapon he picked it up and turned back toward his teammates. "This is not good," he said. "Not good at all."

Apparently Captain William Mitchell, the big commander of Lightspeed and father of the pink and titanium rangers, thought the same way. He had been watching everything in the Control Room of the Aquabase and most certainly did not like what he had just seen. Now the Commander contacted the ranger through the com-link channel. There were things they needed to discuss.

"Rangers, report back to the Aquabase immediately," he ordered.

Instantly all of the rangers obeyed this order from their leader.


	15. Chapter 15

The Forbidden Love Chapter 15

"Will someone please explain to me what just happened out there," demanded the Commander.

All of the Power Rangers were now back at the Aquabase. The Commander and the Power Rangers were now inside the conference room in the base along with the weapons designer and scientist of Lightspeed, Angela Fairweather. All of the Rangers had taken seats at the table while the Commander and Miss Fairweather were the only two that actually remained standing.

Carter said "We're sorry, Commander."

"Well being sorry doesn't explain what happened," said the Commander.

"Honestly we're now exactly sure what happened," said Ryan. "We were about to finish Olympus off when we were interrupted."

"This girl came out of nowhere and had my Rescue Blaster pointed right at us. We had no choice, but to stop," said Carter.

The Commander said "And you couldn't just take the blaster back from her and mover her aside."

"She had the Rescue Blaster pointed right at us and he only way we were going to get past her would've been by hurting her. We didn't want to do that especially to someone from our Mariner Bay," said Joel.

"What do we know about her," said the Commander, sighing.

Dana said "All that we know is that she went to Mariner Bay University, same as me."

"What about her name," asked the Commander. "Do we have any information on that?"

"All we managed to catch was her first name which is Kushina. Her last name wasn't even mentioned at all," said Kelsey.

"What's her connection to Olympus," asked the Commander.

Chad said "she and Olympus seem to be a couple."

"Okay, that's just wrong in more ways than one," said Joel.

"What I'm wondering," said Ryan, "is how those two actually met in the first place. I mean when did they get the chance?"

No one really had answer for that.

After a few seconds later a thought popped into Carter's head. "Wait a minute," said Carter.

"What is it," asked Dana.

Carter said "I just thought of something."

"What," asked Kelsey.

"That place where I found Olympus today," said Carter, "it was right by a hiking trail."

"What has that got to do with anything," asked Joel.

Instead of answering Joel, Carter turned to Miss Fairweather. He said "Can you get the security footage on that area from the past few weeks?"

"Sure," said Miss Fairweather. "What are the coordinates?" Carter gave Miss Fairweather the location and she went straight over to the large computer in the conference room.

"What's going on, Carter," said the Commander.

Carter said "You'll see in a minute."

Miss Fairweather then got the location on screen and the place that appeared was the entrance of the cave where Olympus had been hiding for all that time.

"Can you rewind it a few days after our fight with Olympus," asked Carter. Miss Fairweather nodded and went to do just that.

"Why have you brought us to this location, Carter," asked Chad.

Carter then quickly went to explain his reasons. "Sorry guys," he said, "this is where I found Olympus earlier."

"And the reason you are showing us this is…," said Joel.

Carter said "I actually don't know, but my instincts are telling me to go back to this location."

"I guess we'll see why in a minute," said Dana.

Miss Fairweather said "Here it is." She then played the footage on the screen. Not long after it started I appeared on the screen.

"Hey, it's her," said Kelsey.

They then watched as I ducked into the cave. They didn't have long to wait before I came back out and left the place. For a few minutes they watched the footage over the last few weeks of me going back and forth to the cave over this amount of time. During the time that the group was watching this security footage was one thing that was on all of their minds.

"What I don't get," said Dana, "is why she didn't come to us and tell us where Olympus was hiding in the first place."

"We already know the answer to that," said Ryan. "She fell in love with him."

They were now through most of the security footage. All of them had reached the point in time when I had finally stopped being afraid of Olympus. They could see this quite clearly when I stopped going in and out of the cave without a scared expression on my face and more of a happier one.

"And the bond forms," said Ryan.

What they saw next completely shocked and disgusted the lot of them. They were looking at the security footage from the last two days. In the footage my demeanor had changed from being a very frightened girl to a completely happy and lovesick young woman. Also, they noticed that in the footage from the last two days that I had been staying nights at the cave with Olympus. Every time I came back out in the early morning my clothes were torn, wrinkled, and I was wearing a cloak which hadn't been there earlier. My lips were swollen and my hair was a bit messy. For them this could only mean one thing and it caught them off guard.

"Oh man, that's gross," said Kelsey.

Joel said "Now that's just wrong."

The footage from this morning was now showing the fight between Carter and Olympus at the cave.

As they were watching it Dana seemed to notice something. "Wait," she said. Everyone turned to her. "Pause it."

"What," said Carter.

"Just do it," said Dana.

Miss Fairweather did as she was told.

"What exactly are we supposed to be looking at, Dana," asked the Commander.

"This," said Dana, getting up from her chair. She then went over to the screen and pointed at some bushes. "Zoom in here."

Miss Fairweather zoomed in the picture at the location Dana pointed at. When Miss Fairweather did this every one could now see what Dana had spotted.

"This is what I saw," said Dana.

On the screen was a close up image of me hiding in the bushes. They could see that I was bearing a horrified expression.

"That explains a lot," said Carter. "She must've been on her way to see Olympus when she saw the two of us fighting."

"After that she must've followed the two of you to the crash site," said Chad.

Chad proved to be right on this when they saw me jump out of the bushes as Olympus went to chase Carter in the security footage and run right after them.

"That's all we need to see," said the Commander. Miss Fairweather then got rid of the footage on the screen.

Ryan said "We have to bring her back."

"What are you talking about, son," asked the Commander.

Ryan turned to his father. "We must find her," said Ryan.

"She's made her choice, son. We can't help her now," said the Commander.

Dana said "Father's right. There's really no point in trying to change her mind."

"You don't understand," said Ryan, shaking his head.

"Explain it to us then," said Carter

Ryan then began his explanation. "As you all know I've lived among the demons for years," said Ryan, "and I've come to know them well."

"What's your point," asked Joel.

Ryan said "My point is that this young woman doesn't. Putting aside Olympus and Jinxer, she doesn't even have a clue of what they're like. I'm telling you she won't last long if she stays with them. That's why we have to find and get her out of there as soon as possible."

"Now that Ryan has brought it up he doe present a good point. That girl could die," said Dana.

"It's your call, Commander," said Carter.

Everyone now turned their attention over to their Commander. Captain William Mitchell was wearing a thoughtful look on his face while trying to reach a decision on this matter. Finally after a few minutes he came to one. "All right, we'll do it," he said. "But the question is how?"

"Before I joined Lightspeed I was able to go back and forth from the Skull Cavern to Mariner Bay. By using that same method I may be able to infiltrate the Skull Cavern, find Kushina, and get her out of there," said Ryan.

The Commander said "That's a good plan, but not the one we'll use." He then explained his idea. "This is what we're going to do. For now we're just going to patrol the city in groups of twos. Chad and Joel, you'll be one group. Dana, Kelsey, you'll be our second and Carter and Ryan, you'll be our last. In a few days if she's still not in Mariner Bay by any chance we'll stop the search and we'll do it your way Ryan." The Commander looked up at his son as he said the last part.

"I have no objections," said Ryan, nodding.

"In the meantime," said the Commander, "Miss Fairweather, I want you to monitor the entire area to see if she shows up in case we miss anything."

"Of course, Commander," said Miss Fairweather.

The Commander said "We have a lot to do and many hardships ahead of us, but right now I want all of you to relax and get some rest. The real work starts tomorrow."


	16. Chapter 16

The Forbidden Love Chapter 16

As Olympus had teleported the two of us away I had redoubled my grip on him. The next thing I knew everything went black. I was being pressed very hard from all directions. I absolutely couldn't breathe at all. It felt like iron bands were tightening around my chest. My eyes were being forced back into my head. My eardrums were being pushed deeper and deeper into my skull and then-.

I gulped in great big lungful's of air and opened up my streaming eyes. I had felt as thought I had just been forced through and extremely small and right rubber tube. It was a few seconds before I realized that the Power Rangers had completely vanished from in front of us.

Olympus and I were standing in what appeared to be a very, very large cavern, in the center which stood a large castle with an image of an extremely large skull at its top. There were stairs leading right up to the large mouth of the skull which the two of us were on now. Behind us was a large path inside the Skull Cavern that led right up to the entire castle. Inside the Skull Cavern lights were moving and shining around everywhere. They surrounded the entire castle and were moving around the whole Skull Cavern.

After my comprehension managed to catch up with my senses I had realized that I had just teleported for the first time in my whole life. My stomach heaved p everything that was inside of it.

Olympus stood there patting and rubbing my back until my stomach had finally stopped heaving up everything I had eaten that day. "Are you all right," asked Olympus, looking down at me solicitously. "The sensation does take some getting used to." He had a slightly amused look in his eyes.

"I'm fine," I said. I was gently rubbing my stomach and my throbbing ears which felt as though they had left our last location rather reluctantly. "But I think I might prefer walking…"

Smiling, Olympus said "This way." He then set off at a brick pace up the stairs with me at his side.

As we were going up the stairs I couldn't help, but become interested in all of the lights that were moving around the entire cavern. I was completely enchanted by them and couldn't keep my eyes away. Upon closer inspection of them they actually had quite a close resemblance to the northern lights.

There were a lot of stairs we had to go up. Olympus may have been used to doing this, but I wasn't no matter how many hiking trails I went up. I got tired about halfway and had to catch my breath. Olympus went up a few more steps and turned to look down at me. My body was bent a little as I was trying to catch my breath.

Looking up at him, I said, smiling "Go ahead I'll catch up with you."

Instead of going up like I said, Olympus picked me up in his arms and with me there Olympus headed back up the stairs. Only this time we weren't walking Olympus flew the two of us all the way up there. In what may have taken us an hour to walk up it only took a few seconds to fly the rest of the way. When we reached the top Olympus set us down in front of the gates.

"Why didn't we just do that in the first place," I asked, referring to the flying.

Shrugging, Olympus said "It didn't really come to mind." He had a slightly amused expression on his face when he had said this. Olympus then went up to the castle gates with me following behind him.

When we reached the gates Olympus brought a finger to his lips, telling me to be quiet, and not make any noise. A moment later he opened the doors and the two of us slipped inside.

Before we started moving again, I said "Olympus."

"Yes," he said.

"I've…I've been thinking. What if this doesn't work," I said, nervously. "What if they don't like me?" You said yourself that your mother hates humans. I doubt she'll tolerate let alone accept me here."

"Everything will turn out all right," said Olympus. "Besides you've already convinced Jinxer that you're no threat to us."

"Oh yeah, right," I said, sarcastically. "Jinxer's the least of my worries, Olympus. I know for a fact that there are a number of demons here, under your mother's control that are far stronger than he is. I doubt any of them will be as understanding."

"I admit that some of the others may be a bit harder to convince, but everything will turn out all right. You'll see," said Olympus.

I was still doubtful about the situation, but I didn't say anything else about it. We started moving through the castle with him in the lead. Since I didn't know anything about this place I was going to have to follow him. It was extremely dark with only enough light to allow us to see where we were going.

While Olympus and I were walking around we didn't hear or see anybody, but after a while Olympus suddenly stopped and held out his arm blocking me from going any further. I stayed silent. Olympus cocked his head as if he was listening to something that I couldn't hear. Olympus then took my hand and we were moving again.

"Is something wrong," I asked.

Shaking his head, no, Olympus said "Nothing's wrong, but I do have a bit of news for you."

"What kind of news," I asked, quickly.

He said "I can hear my mother. She and the others aren't far away."

"Oh my…," I said, fearfully.

Olympus said "Don't worry it'll be all right. Look I have a plan. I'll go in first and let them know I've returned. They'll be surprised enough just seeing me alive. Besides Jinxer everyone's been thinking that I've been dead this whole time. It'll take a little while for me to calm them down. I don't know how they're going to react to just seeing me here let alone you."

"Of course," I said, agreeing.

Not long after that Olympus stopped us again. Putting his finger to his lips he pointed at something ahead of us. It wasn't hard to find out what it was. Not far ahead of us was a very big opening in the pillars that looked to be something like a great hall. There was a whole lore more light shining in this area which made it much easier to see who and what was there.

As far as I could see there were five demons in that area. Jinxer was the easiest to recognize from the group. He seemed to be talking to the other four in the circle. These three others I had, also, seen before. I didn't know their names, but I have seen them causing destruction in Mariner Bay before. Now the last one I had absolutely never seen before, but I knew who she was instantly. She was the biggest and most intimidating of all five, but what really gave her away was this demon only had half a body. This had to be Queen Bansheera, Olympus's mother.

Because Olympus and I were standing in a more shadowed spot none of them could actually see us. Olympus and I moved only a little bit closer before we stopped again. Olympus pointed to a large pillar next to us clearly telling me to hide there for the time being. I did as he told me.

"Stay here," he whispered, "I'll signal you when you can come out."

I nodded to show him that I understood. I didn't want to risk them discovering my presence there just yet. He then moved forward keeping perfectly quiet. As he was doing this I could clearly hear the other five talking even though I was a bit of a distance away from them. Mostly I could just catch bits and pieces of it.

"I'm losing patience, Diabolico," said Queen Bansheera.

"It won't be much longer, my Queen," said the one called Diabolico, "soon you will have your palace back."

"You'd better be right," snarled Queen Bansheera, "for your sake. You have failed me too many times already."

"Understood," said Diabolico.

Loki then spoke up after his comrade. "Nothing to worry about, your Majesty," said Loki. "We'll have Mariner Bay destroyed in no time."

"You say that every single time and yet you do not succeed," said Queen Bansheera, annoyed.

There was a nervous pause.

Trying to correct himself, Loki said "Those Rangers have been lucky before. If it weren't for them we would've been able to destroy Mariner Bay by now."

At this point Queen Bansheera had enough. "Enough," she shouted.

Olympus was the only one that didn't cringe at the sound of her voice. Even though I wasn't the one she was angry at her voice still made me jump a few inches.

"I've had enough of your excuses," shouted Queen Bansheera, warningly. Just a hint of her anger stopped them from saying anything else especially Loki. "I want Mariner Bay destroyed!"

Right after the Queen said this Olympus decided to finally make his presence known, at last. "Perhaps they are incapable of doing such a thing," said Olympus, loudly.

There came an immediate response. Heads snapped in the direction of where his voice had come from. As a precaution I moved further behind the pillar while none of them would be able to spot me while Olympus moved forward.

As Olympus moved out of the darkness and into the light the expressions of the faces on the three demons changed from surprise to a mixture of horror and anger. Jinxer was a bit surprised to see Olympus back here so soon. Queen Bansheera was quite beyond surprise to see the son that she had thought dead standing before her right now.

"Hello, Mother," said Olympus, looking right at her.

"Olympus," exclaimed Queen Bansheera, "my son, you are alive. You've escaped from the Shadow World."

"Yes, Mother," said Olympus, walking over to Queen Bansheera and bowing low to her, "I have returned and I am ready to take over where I left off before my absence."

"I hope you will be more successful, my son," said Queen Bansheera.

Olympus said "I will, Mother."

Olympus glanced at Jinxer and a silent message passed between them. Olympus decided that it was now time to introduce me. Both of them scent a slight nod to each other. Fortunately, no one noticed the exchange between the two.

"I have a…surprise for you, Mother," said Olympus.

"A surprise? What kind of surprise," asked Queen Bansheera.

"You'll see," said Olympus, "but…"

"But, what," said Queen Bansheera.

Olympus said "I want you to promise that you won't overreact."

Neither Queen Bansheera nor any of the others liked the sound of that. Only Jinxer knew what was coming.

"Out with it, Olympus," said Queen Bansheera. This was not a request from the Queen it was an order.

"Well, during my recovery I seemed to have stumbled upon something quite interesting," said Olympus.

"What have you brought with you, my son," demanded Queen Bansheera.

"Very well," said Olympus. He then turned and gestured with his hand for me to come out.

I hesitated and Olympus flexed his fingers, ordering me to come out of hiding. I took in a deep breath to calm my nerves, let it out slowly, stepped out from the pillar I was hiding behind, and moved forward out of the darkness. As for the Queen and her minions they knew that something was coming toward them, but didn't know who or what it could be, except for Jinxer. A moment later a young woman, me, stepped into the light and out of the shadows. My appearance had an immediate effect on the demons there.

Loki shouted "A Human!" A two-pronged staff appeared in his hand. Loki ran straight at me with his weapon held high over his head.

This demon wasn't given the chance to follow through with his attack. Before he could do anything harmful to me, Olympus intervened.

Just as this demon swiped at me with his weapon, Olympus completely blocked the attack with his double-bladed spear. Olympus shot a fireball out of his hand right at Loki. Loki flew through the air and his directly against a pillar.

"Don't you dare threaten her," snarled Olympus.

The other female demon went over to the one that Olympus had attacked and helped him rise.

"Why you…," he growled. Loki got into a fighting stance and so did Olympus.

Olympus was standing protectively in front of me. I was cowering behind him, visibly frightened by what was going on.

Before any of this could go any further Queen Bansheera intervened. "Stop," she commanded. Loki stopped in his tracks and so did Olympus. "Restrain yourself, Loki!"

Loki had no choice but to follow his Queens orders and backed off a little reluctantly while glaring at me. He wasn't the only one. The two demons he was standing with, the other male and female were glaring at me as well. If looks could kill I'd actually drop dead right there from the force of their stares.

Turning to her son, Queen Bansheera ordered "Explain yourself, Olympus!"

"Of course, Mother," said Olympus. He gestured to me and I moved up to his side. "May I introduce Kushina Halliwell."

Bowing in respect to his mother, I said, a bit shaky "It's an honor to meet you, your Majesty. Your son has told me much about you."

"An honor," said Queen Bansheera. "Most humans would rather see us dead than alive."

There was an uncomfortable bit of silence after that. I was wearing a nervous smile on my face. I wouldn't look at any of them in the eye.

There was a chuckle from one of the male demons. "Typical human," said a male demon. This one had a deeper voice than the one that had just tried to kill me.

Olympus snapped his head toward the speaker, he demanded "Just what are you implying, Diabolico?"

Immediately after I heard the name Diabolico my head snapped up and a hard look come upon my face. Diabolico? This was the demon Olympus had told me about. He was the demon that had tried to get rid of Olympus a number of times before I met him. I took a closer look at this guy.

Diabolico was a very demonic looking demon. He was quite large, but not at all fat his body was completely made out of muscle. He had gold skin with just a touch of black and like many demons he had horns. I noticed an empty symbol on his chest where the Star Power had been before Olympus had obtained it.

Diabolico said "I'm implying that humans are all the same. They're weak, cowards, every last one of them." Diabolico said all of this while looking right at me and I stared right back. You can't trust them."

"That's funny," said Olympus, "I seem to recall you raising one until quite recently."

"Which is exactly my point," said Diabolico. "You shouldn't have brought this human here."

"Why did you even bring this human here in the first place," inquired Loki.

At Loki's question Olympus and I exchanged glances, but it only lasted for a moment. "Kushina is the one who's helped me recover from my wounds this whole time," said Olympus.

I noticed that Diabolico and the other two demons weren't too happy when Olympus mentioned this piece of information. No doubt the three of them had been hoping that Olympus had died and would never come back. I helping Olympus recover completely got rid of whatever hopes they had of that now.

"Also," said Olympus, "I wanted her to meet you, Mother."

Queen Bansheera raised an eyebrow. "Why the hell would you want to do that," she asked.

"Well, Mother," said Olympus, "Kushina has consented to become my wife. We're going to be mates." He squeezed my hand as he said that last part and I squeezed his back.

At first the announcement didn't really hit home for Queen Bansheera and the other demons there, but it didn't take long. There were roars of disapproval from them.

"Traitor," shouted Loki. This guy had a similar body structure to Diabolico, but he was a bit shorter with his skin pure black and his face structure was completely different.

"I thought there was something wrong with you," said the female demon to Olympus.

"Watch it, Vypra," warned Olympus.

Vypra came as something as a surprise to me. If I hadn't known that she was a demon already I would've thought that she was a human wearing a very convincing costume. Out of all of them she was the most human looking demon there. She was wearing serpentine armor and with what Olympus had told me about her she was adept in some demonic magic.

Diabolico now turned to Queen Bansheera. "You see, my Queen," said Diabolico, "this is what I've been saying all along. Olympus is not fit to lead us. He had bad judgment which clearly shows right now with him bringing this human here."

"You're out of order Diabolico," said Queen Bansheera.

"Forgive me, my Queen," said Diabolico, bowing low. "I mean no disrespect. I'm only stating a point. Olympus suddenly shows up back here after weeks of his disappearance and he brings a human with him. We don't know a thing about this human. For all we know she could be sent as a spy for the Rangers."

"You're wrong," I protested, "I'm not a spy for the Power Rangers and I would never do such a thing. I assure you, you can trust me."

"That remains to be seen," said Diabolico, coldly. Just the cold tone in his voice shut me up.

Wrapping a comforting arm around me, Olympus said "Kushina speaks the truth, Mother, you know that I wouldn't have brought her here if I thought she was a threat to us."

"I can't allow this, Olympus," said Queen Bansheera. "This girl is a human and as you very well know, humans are our enemies and must be eliminated."

Evil grins appeared on the faces of Diabolico, Loki, and Vypra. Loki held his weapon firmly in his hands ready to use it. I gulped and pressed myself against Olympus's side. I'll admit I was a little intimidated by them.

As I was getting nervous Olympus was still quite calm. "Actually I have a solution to that little problem," said Olympus, as calms as can be.

"Oh," said Diabolico, raising his eyebrow. "What exactly is it?"

"It's quite simple, actually," said Olympus, shrugging. "We just have to change her into one of us."

Now that definitely caught them off guard even his mother.

"That's impossible," said Loki, "there isn't a spell in our history that can do that."

"Actually there is," said Olympus.

"How exactly do you know that," demanded Vypra.

"Jinxer," said Olympus, looking right at the spell caster.

Jinxer had been standing by quietly this whole time not saying a word. He had known better than to get involved, but now he had no choice. "Yes, my prince," said Jinxer.

Olympus said "Tell them what you found out."

Jinxer nodded. I was curious to hear what Jinxer was going to say and so was everyone else.

Jinxer said "I was looking through some spell books and I found a bit of an interesting sell that caught my eye. It told me of a way another creature could be transformed into a demon."

As soon as I heard this I tightened my grip on Olympus's hand. This could be what I had been hoping for.

"I honestly don't know why I'd never found it before now. I've been through those spell books so many times that I should've known about it years ago. Anyway in order for the spell to work a large amount of demonic energy must be transferred into the body of the one that is being given the transformation. Without that energy there wouldn't be any chance of the entire transformation being successful at all."

"That's enough," said Olympus. "I'll just give her the energy."

"I'm afraid just yours wouldn't be enough, Olympus," said Jinxer.

"What do you mean," I asked, nervously.

Jinxer said "One demon transferring his energy wouldn't be enough. There has to be three demons doing the transfer not just one."

"Wait a minute," I said, "you said three, right?"

"Yes, that's what I said," said Jinxer, nodding.

My heart dropped right when I heard those words come out of his mouth. Olympus was only one demon and we needed two more which meant… Apparently Olympus came to the same conclusion as me because we both looked at Diabolico, Loki, and Vypra. Despite the situation he had a hopeful expression on his face while mine was downcast. It wasn't going to be easy to convince at least two of them to help.

Diabolico, Loki, and Vypra realized what we were getting at.

"No," shouted Vypra.

Diabolico said "Absolutely not. Queen Bansheera please you cannot allow this. Adding a human to our ranks will bring nothing, but shame to us."

"But when she is transformed, Kushina will no longer be a human. She will be one of us by the time it is done," said Olympus.

"That is partially true, my prince," said Jinxer.

"What do you mean," asked Olympus.

"Kushina will be one of us, but she will, also, be able to change back to her human form at will," said Jinxer.

Olympus said "In other words she'll be a shape-shifter."

"That's correct," said Jinxer, "it's an ending result of the ritual."

"That ability can be used to our advantage," said Olympus.

"It does sound like it could have some benefits," said Diabolico, grudgingly. Loki and Vypra nodded in agreement with their friend. I could tell by the look on their faces that they still really despised the very idea of me joining their ranks.

For a while after that there was silence. Everyone including myself was looking at Queen Bansheera, awaiting her decision. What was going to happen next was residing with her. My fate was in her hands. Finally after what seemed like forever Queen Bansheera made her decision.

"All right," said Queen Bansheera, "for now on we will consider this human as one of us."

This choice wasn't nearly what Diabolico, Loki, or Vypra had expected to hear from their Queen. They expected her to side with them not the other way around.

"What," they shouted, outraged.

Olympus and I breathed sighs of relief. The two of us had feared that his mother was going to order me executed.

"But-but, Queen Bansheera," Diabolico began, protesting.

Queen Bansheera stopped him before he could get any further. "Enough, Diabolico," ordered, Queen Bansheera, speaking with authority. "I have made my decision. You and Loki will lend your energies with my son for the ritual."

Loki went to protest further, but Queen Bansheera silenced him with a fierce look. There was no more protests after that.

"Jinxer, how long will it take for you to prepare for the ritual," asked the Queen.

Jinxer said "Oh not long, your Majesty," said Jinxer, "just a few days three at most."

Bansheera nodded, satisfied. She then turned to me, commanding "Kushina, come forward."

I disentangled myself from Olympus and moved closer to the Queen. When I was just a few feet away from her I stopped. "Yes, my Queen," I said, bowing.

She said "Human, listen closely I do not want to have to repeat myself. Just because you are considered one of us now doesn't mean that you are. Right now you are still human and until you are transformed you are not under any protection. Make one wrong move and you will die. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes, your Majesty," I said. My voice was shaking a little. My body didn't really show it, but inside was completely terrified. This woman was very and I mean very intimidating.

"A temporary place will be set up for you until the ritual," said Bansheera.

"Thank you, my Queen," I said, bowing low again. I then moved back to Olympus's side, but not taking my eyes off of her.

Turning to her son, Bansheera said "You'd better know what you're doing, my son."

"There's nothing for you to worry about, Mother," assured Olympus.

"You are dismissed," said Bansheera.

Olympus and I bowed to his mother one more time and the two of us left with Jinxer following behind us. There were preparations to be made and he needed to get started on them.

When all three of us were out of sight Diabolico, Loki, and Vypra advanced on their Queen.

"Are we really going to do this, my Queen," asked Diabolico.

"Yes we are," said Queen Bansheera. "My son has chosen his mate."

"But she's a human," protested Loki.

"She won't be for much longer," said Vypra, reminding them. Loki gave Vypra a longer look, but seeing her point h didn't go any further.

Queen Bansheera said "Olympus has made his choice…but that doesn't mean I have to like it."

Those three now had curious expressions on their faces.

"What would you like us to do," asked Diabolico.

Queen Bansheera said "For now just keep an eye on her. If she does anything suspicious I want to know about it immediately. Don't make a move unless I tell you."

All three of them bowed down low to her.

"Whatever you ask we will serve," said Diabolico.

Bansheera nodded satisfied with them. "You may go," she said.

Dismissed all three of them left leaving Bansheera alone with her own thoughts. They, also, had some thinking to do.

Olympus and I were at my new quarters. On our way over to them Jinxer had summoned up some Batlings and ordered them to prepare a place for me. They rushed on ahead so that they could get a head start.

Batlings were foot soldiers for Queen Bansheera. These guys had round black heads with the wings of a bat protruding out of either side. They were clad in black spandex and had bat wings coming out of their backs. I didn't see any with them, but from what I knew about these guys their weapons were swords.

By the time we had reached my new quarters the Batlings were just finishing the set up. My quarters weren't too far away from where Olympus would be staying. There was a bed along with some ornaments around the room. It was pretty dark except for some candles that were hanging from the ceiling and walls. The entire room was simple, but it would suffice for my needs. All I really needed was a place for me to sleep.

When the Batlings were finished Olympus ordered all of them out. Jinxer asked us if we needed anything.

Olympus said "No, that'll be all, Jinxer."

Jinxer made a small bow in his direction and left my quarters. When Jinxer had left Olympus went over to the door and closed it. Right at that moment my body gave in and my legs couldn't hold me up anymore. Olympus caught me before I hit the ground. He carried me over to the bed and sat me down.

"Are you all right," asked Olympus, concerned. "You're shaking."

He was right I was shaking like a leaf. "I'm fine," I said, "just give me a minute." I took in a few deep breaths and within a few moments my body had calmed down. "Oh boy, my heart is still pounding." I placed my hand over my heart.

"Scared were you," asked Olympus.

I said "Yeah, but I'm all right now. Meeting your mother was a lot more frightening than I thought it would be."

"I know what you mean my mother can be pretty intimidating sometimes," said Olympus.

I said "Did thing go as you expected?"

"Mostly," he said, "what about you?"

"The same although there were a few times when I thought that they were actually going to kill me," I said.

He said "I would've killed them if they tried." There was a lot of heat and malice in his voice as he said this.

"I know," I said, softly.

Olympus wrapped an arm around me. I leaned into his side and laid my head on his shoulder.

"What'll happen now," I whispered.

Olympus said "I don't know, but what I do know is that whatever happens will be from our own doing no one else's."

"Olympus," I said.

"Yes," he said.

I said "I know that your mother has barely given us her blessing, but what about the others? I'm sure that they won't just let this go. You saw the expressions on their faces."

"I saw them," said Olympus, "and as I said before I'd kill them if they ever tried to hurt you, but for now just keep a low profile until the ritual. Don't go anywhere without Jinxer or myself. I don't want any of them to catch you out alone. If that does happen come straight back here you don't have any power to defend yourself."

"There's another reason…isn't there," I inquired.

"Yes," said Olympus, nodding, "now that they know of you existence and relationship to me they might try to use you against me."

"Like Diabolico," I asked.

"Especially Diabolico," said Olympus. "You know very well how hard he's been trying to get rid of me."

Kissing his cheek, I said softly "Don't worry, my darling, I won't give him or any of them that chance."

Olympus kissed me, saying "I know you won't." He then kissed me again.

After that one thing lead to another and neither of us left those quarters for the rest of the day. No one dared to disturb us.


	17. Chapter 17

The Forbidden Love Chapter 17

The next few days went by, but for me…they couldn't go fast enough. I was happy that Olympus and I didn't have to hide our love anymore, but unfortunately having it now out in the open has some drawbacks.

The subordinates of Queen Bansheera absolutely did not like having me around. Following Olympus's suggestion every time I left my quarters I made sure that I wasn't on my own. Sometimes it was Jinxer with me, but most of the time it was Olympus that was with me.

Every time we ran into Diabolico, Loki, or Vypra there was always much tension in the air. The three of them kept shooting me plenty of hostile looks. At one time I thought that Loki was going to try and attack me again, but thankfully nothing happened.

At first I was a bit confused of why none of them had actually made any attempts to kill me. For a while I thought it was because of Olympus's presence there with me. After a little while I came up with the conclusion that it was something else.

Eventually I got my answer from Jinxer. He found out that Queen Bansheera had ordered her subordinates not to do any harm to me…for the time being. This did explain a few things for me, but this new piece of knowledge didn't completely exterminate my fears. Fortunately, as long as I did have Queen Bansheera's blessing and Olympus's protection I knew that I wasn't going to be harmed as long as I was there.

Turns out that I was wrong about Olympus and his kind consuming only raw meat. That was a thing Olympus liked to do. He and his kind could eat a variety of different stuff. They could eat practically any kind of meat whether it was cooked or raw. At one time during a meal I nearly threw up because I spotted the one called Loki eating some insects, but since this was going to be my new life I had to bear it. For me I just stuck with fish and some fruit. For now those were the only two varieties my body could actually stomach. Also, at meals I sat as far away from the others as I possibly could even Olympus's mother. All of us sat at the same long, rectangular table. Queen Bansheera always was in the middle of the table at its head. Diabolico, Loki, and Vypra were on one side of the Queen while Olympus, Jinxer, and I were on the other. I always sat in the middle of Olympus and Jinxer.

Queen Bansheera mostly stayed in a private chamber deep inside the castle. Whenever I was outside of my quarters I stayed well away from that area. That was one place I absolutely did not want to go.

Olympus showed me many parts of the castle. Most of them were the same. There was a library full of history and books full of spells. This was one of the only places in the castle that caught my interest. He brought me up to the top of the castle where I could watch the lights which were moving all around the Skull Cavern. Watching them helped to take the stress out of my body and calm me down.

The people of Lightspeed Rescue were doing nearly everything they could to find me in the days before the ritual. All of the Power Rangers took turns patrolling around the city looking for any sign of me.

Miss Fairweather wasn't doing any of the patrols, but she was doing a lot more than any of the Power Rangers were doing. Whenever she wasn't working on a project she was watching some security footage of Mariner Bay and monitoring the entire area, checking of any sign of me showing back up in Mariner Bay.

Ryan, the Titanium Ranger, was especially worried about my wellbeing. He knew that many of the demons in the Skull Cavern would be extremely hostile toward me and that I would be in a very big disadvantage if I ever got into a fight with one of them. The fact I didn't have any training like any of the Rangers was another worrying factor for him to and the others on his team to consider.

Ryan had wanted to go straight to the Skull Cavern to get me out of there. Much to his dismay his father had been keeping him from doing so. The Commander wanted to be sure that I wasn't still in Mariner Bay before he sent his son to "rescue" me from the enemy.

Unfortunately for the Commander he wasn't going to be able to take his way out of it this time. Ryan had been waiting long enough and he was going to go to the Skull Cavern one way or another even without his father's permission.


	18. Chapter 18

The Forbidden Love Chapter 18

The Commander was inside his office. He was looking over some important documents that one of his officers had given him. He was about halfway through looking them over when Miss Fairweather walked in.

"I have those reports you wanted, Commander," said Miss Fairweather.

"Good just set them down right here on my desk. I'll look at them later when I'm done with these," said the Commander, not looking up from his work.

Miss Fairweather did as she was told and put the papers down on the side of his desk.

"Any sign of Kushina, Miss Fairweather," inquired the Commander.

"I'm afraid not," she said, shaking her head, "I've been watching the monitors every chance I get and there's still no sign of her. My conclusion is that she's no longer in the city. If she was still in Mariner Bay I would've been able to spot her by now."

"That's exactly what I've been saying."

Both of them looked up to see Ryan leaning against the door frame, arms crossed.

"Please explain," said the Commander.

"Well it's as I've been saying for the past few days," said Ryan, moving into the room. "That girl is not going to be here in Mariner Bay. With the way she was acting toward Olympus she's not going to leave his side until someone goes in there and brings her back."

The Commander put aside the documents he was looking at and folded his hands in front of him. His attention was fully on his son now. "What do you propose we do," he asked.

Ryan explained "You know that I have the ability to travel back and forth from the Skull Cavern to Mariner Bay, right?"

His father and Miss Fairweather both nodded, showing they knew what he was talking about.

Continuing, Ryan said "My plan is to sneak inside the Skull Cavern undetected, find the girl, and take her away before any of them know I'm even there."

Captain Mitchell nodded at what his son was saying. "It's a good plan," he said, agreeing, "but are you sure that you'll be able to go there and come back without being seen?" There was a bit of concern in his voice as he asked the last part.

Ryan was quick to reassure his father, saying "It wouldn't be a problem for me at all. Don't forget I grew up there. I know every inch of that place from top to bottom."

For a moment there was silence. There was a calculating look on the Commander's face as he was taking this all in.

After a few moments Miss Fairweather went over to the Commander and put a hand on his shoulder. "Commander," she said, inquiringly.

The Commander took in a deep breath and let it out lowly. He had made up his mind. "All right, Ryan, you can go," he said, reluctantly.

"Thank you, Father," said Ryan, smiling. "I'll leave at once."

"Just be careful," said the Commander.

Ryan nodded and left his father's office. He was going to leave immediately.

When Ryan was gone the Commander put his head in his hands. "That kid's going to be the death of me," he said.

Miss Fairweather said "Ryan knows what he's doing. He can take care of himself."

"I know that," he said, "but I don't want to risk losing him again."

Miss Fairweather gently squeezed his shoulder. "Have faith," she said, gently "he'll be back." Miss Fairweather gave him one last pat on the shoulder and left the Commanders office leaving the Commander alone with his own thoughts and worries.

Back with Ryan he was with his sister and Dana was giving her brother a hug. "Come back safely," she said.

"You know I will," said Ryan.

They both gave each other a last squeeze and let go.

Ryan then pressed a button on his morpher, saying "Titanium Power!" A moment later his Titanium Ranger suit appeared on his body with a flash. He then spoke the spell that was needed to transport him to the Skull Cavern. He was gone leaving Dana standing there hoping her brother was going to be back all right.


	19. Chapter 19

The Forbidden Love Chapter 19

One minute Ryan was standing in Lightspeed with his sister and the next moment he was standing in the Queen's lair. The place inside the castle that he teleported into was completely deserted. Absolutely no one was around, fortunately for him.

Ryan stood there for a moment listening carefully to check if there was anyone close by or coming his way. Once he had confirmed no one was around he started moving. While he was moving Ryan made sure to stay out of any spots of light. He didn't want to take a chance of anyone spotting him if someone did come his way so he just stuck to the shadows.

Ryan was heading to the place where he thought he had the best bet of finding me which was at Olympus's quarters. On his way there he nearly ran into a group of Batlings. He needed to jump behind a large pillar and press himself against the back of it so that none of them would spot him. When Ryan was sure they were gone he came out of his hiding place and continued on his way.

Unfortunately, Ryan ran into another obstacle on his way to his destination. He was nearly at his destination when he heard something else coming his way. Quickly Ryan went behind a large tapestry nearby. He knew there was an opening behind it he could hide in for the time being. The footsteps kept getting closer until he could see who it was through the tapestry.

It was Diabolico and he wasn't alone either Loki was with him. The two of them seemed to be heading for the Queen's chambers. Ryan moved further into his hiding place, but as he did so a piece of metal on his suit scratched against the stone on the wall. He immediately pulled his arm away. The noise only lasted for a second, but it was more than enough to catch their attention.

"What was that," said Diabolico, head snapping up.

"It came from over here," said Loki, moving over to the tapestry. Loki reached out his hand as if he was going to push aside the tapestry.

Ryan continued to move backwards until his back touched the wall. At the same time Loki put his hand on the tapestry to push it aside Ryan placed his hand on his blaster. He was ready to use it as soon as Loki pushed that tapestry away. Loki was about to do so when he was interrupted.

"There you are I've been looking everywhere for you two." Loki and Diabolico turned to see Vypra coming toward them. "The Queen wants our reports. She's waiting for us in her chambers," she said.

"We already know that, Vypra," said Diabolico, "we were just on our way down there."

Raising an eyebrow and annoyed, Vypra said "Then what are you standing around here for? The Queen doesn't like to be kept waiting."

"Very true," said Diabolico, nodding in agreement. He then turned to his comrade. "Come on, Loki." He walked away with Vypra.

Loki hesitated he wanted to see what had made that sound from before.

"Loki," repeated Diabolico.

Finally, Loki obeyed. He cast one last suspicious glance at the tapestry before he left to follow Diabolico and Vypra.

When he was sure all three of them were gone Ryan looked out from behind the tapestry. Once he felt it was safe he slipped out from behind his hiding place. Ryan knew he had to locate me soon. With three of Bansheera's top demons occupied he knew this was probably going to be his best chance to whisk me away without getting discovered.

Ryan was now quite tired with taking things slow. He wasn't that far from Olympus's chambers now. He ran the rest of the way there, but as quietly and carefully as he possibly could. A few minutes later he was just around the corner from them. Ryan poked his head around the corner in order to make sure no one was around. When he came to this conclusion he went right over to the doors. As Ryan did this he pulled his blaster out and held it at the ready. He was going to be ready to attack Olympus if necessary.

Ryan placed his hand on the door of the chambers. He was prepared to knock it down when he realized the door wasn't actually locked. He opened it a little and went inside. Olympus wasn't inside and neither was I. Ryan searched the chamber and the few small rooms connected to it. He made sure not to touch anything since he didn't want anyone to know he was around. Ryan went over to the door to head back out where a very familiar voice stopped him in his tracks.

"Olympus will be down here soon," said Jinxer, "he and the Queen need to go over a few things."

There was a sigh. "Yes, I know," I said, "Olympus had told me that he needed to speak to his mother earlier today. How long shall he be?"

"Oh not long at all," said Jinxer. "It'll just take a little while and then he'll be back here."

Olympus and I had now moved past Olympus's chambers and were moving further down the corridor. When he knew there was now a safe distance between us Ryan slipped out and followed us. He kept a safe distance while staying inside of the shadows. As we were moving Ryan could clearly hear the conversation I was having with Jinxer.

"How are the preparations, Jinxer," I asked.

Jinxer said "Things are moving right on schedule. It shouldn't be long before the ritual is ready."

"Ritual, what ritual," thought Ryan.

Jinxer and I had now reached my own rooms. Ryan moved behind a statue right when we had stopped.

"Shall I send the Batlings to fetch you some food and refreshments while you wait," asked Jinxer.

Shaking my head, I said "Not right now, Jinxer. I don't feel like eating."

"As you wish, Kushina," said Jinxer. "If you'll excuse me I have work to do."

I nodded and Jinxer continued forward while I entered my own chambers. Once Jinxer was out of sight Ryan came out from behind the statue. This was his chance. Ryan moved over to my chambers and seeing the door was partially opened he looked inside to see where I was. It was dark in there the only light in the room was coming from a handful of candles which were set up around the room. I was lying down on a bed on the other side of the room. I was tired and trying to take a nap. Everything was quiet, but it wouldn't be for long.

Ryan slipped inside and closed the door behind him. The noise made from it did make me stir a little, but it didn't manage to wake me back up. Quietly, Ryan went over to where I was resting. Ryan watched me sleep for a few seconds before he went to wake me up. Big mistake on his part.

He put his hand on my shoulder and shook me awake. "Kushina," he whispered, "Kushina wake up."

I was awake again within moments. I wasn't down long enough to be put into much of a deep sleep just yet. My vision was a little blurred is I blinked my eyes a few times trying to clear it up. Right now with my vision blurred and the darkness I couldn't really see who it was in front of me. At first I had thought it was Olympus finished with the talk with his mother a bit early.

"Olympus, you're early," I said, trying to focus my eyes. "Jinxer told me you were talking with your mother. I didn't-." I cut myself off, eyes widening in shock. My gaze had just come into focus and it wasn't Olympus leaning over me. It was the Titanium Ranger.

I let out a loud shriek and rolled off of the opposite side of the bed. "You," I shrieked, "how dare you come here!"

"Shh," said the Titanium Ranger, finger at his lips, "not so loud. Someone will hear you." He was whispering trying to keep his voice down.

"Good," I said, "then someone will come in here and kill you!"

"That's not going to be a problem," he said. "By the time we get out of here they won't even know I was even here."

"What do you mean us," I demanded, outraged. "I'm not going anywhere. Now get out!" I couldn't see the Rangers face, but I could tell by his body posture that what I was saying was confusing him.

"But…but I've come to rescue you," he said, confused. He began to move forward.

"Don't come near me," I shrieked. I stepped back grabbing the closest object within my range which was a pottery vase and threw it at his head. He ducked before it could even hit him and shattered against the wall.

The noise from my chambers caught the attention of the demons in the castle. Jinxer was inside the caverns library when he heard the noise and he wasn't the only one. Deeper into the castle Olympus was with his mother in her private chambers along with Diabolico, Loki, and Vypra when they all heard it. The three of them were in the middle of giving their reports to the Queen when the sound of shattering pottery reached them.

"What was that," said Loki.

Diabolico said "One of the Batlings must've knocked something over."

A moment later they all heard something that completely put aside that theory. A loud crash happened less than a minute after the first.

"That definitely wasn't any of the Batlings," said Vypra.

Diabolico said "Then what was it?"

The answer was given to them instantly in a loud scream of fury.

Olympus recognized the voice instantly, he exclaimed "Kushina!" Without waiting for a dismissal from his mother Olympus bolted right out of there and headed for my chambers.

After a moment's hesitation Diabolico, Loki, and Vypra followed behind him. I was throwing whatever I could get my hands on at the Titanium Ranger, trying to keep him away from me. The Titanium Ranger was too busy trying to avoid what I was throwing at him to do anything else.

"Please," he said, I'm trying to help you."

"I don't need your help and neither do I want it," I said, furiously. "Now get out!" This time a candle I threw at the Ranger actually hit him. It nailed him right in the head.

"Ouch," he said, rubbing the back of his head. Even though his head was protected by his helmet the impact from where the candle hit him did hurt. "That's it I'm done being polite."

I threw another piece of pottery, but instead of dodging it like before he did something completely different this time. Instead he shot at it. The Titanium Ranger had snatched his blaster from his belt and aimed it at the pottery. Within moments the object was destroyed. I was flown back by the force of the blast and landed against the wall. The Titanium Ranger took this opportunity to advance n me as I was down. I groaned and rubbed the part of my head which had hit the wall. However, before I could get up, the Titanium Ranger came over and grabbed my arm.

"You're coming with me," said the Titanium Ranger, dragging me to my feet. Ryan then went to say the spell to teleport the two of us out of the Skull Cavern and to Lightspeed. Before he was able to activate it he was stopped.

Out of nowhere a fireball shot right at the Titanium Ranger and it was aimed directly at where his hand was on my arm. In order to avoid the attack Ryan had to let me go. I managed to duck down before it could hit me, too.

"Keep your hands off of her, Ranger," spoke a menacing voice.

We looked toward the door and found Olympus standing there with a furious expression on his face.

"Olympus," said Titanium Ranger, under his breath.

Olympus moved into the room while not taking his eyes off of the ranger and his blaster. "You've got a lot of nerve coming back here," said Olympus.

Titanium Ranger held his weapon at the ready as Olympus kept moving closer. Olympus turned his gaze over to me.

"Kushina, are you all right," he asked, concerned.

"I'm fine," I said, "he didn't hurt me."

Olympus held out his hand and I went over to take it. At that moment Diabolico, Loki, and Vypra showed up at the door.

"What's going on here," demanded Diabolico, eyes narrowed. He then spotted the Ranger standing in the room. "Titanium Ranger!" His weapon appeared in his hands and he advanced on the Power Ranger with the other two doing the same.

Olympus got out his double-bladed spear as well. I went behind him to get out of the line of fire.

Ryan knew he was going to have to fight hand to hand. He then switched up his blaster into his battle ax. Vypra ran right at the Titanium Ranger and took a swing at him with her swords. He blocked it and kicked her in the stomach. The other three came in for the kill. Ryan blocked as many of the attacks as he could, but he couldn't put a stop to them all. When Ryan went to duck an attack from Loki he let his guard down for one second. This was what Olympus needed to get him. Just as Ryan was ducking down Olympus took that moment to strike. Olympus shot a fireball directly at the Ranger. Ryan didn't have enough time to dodge and it hit him right in the chest.

"Ah," shouted Titanium Ranger. There were a few explosions on his chest and eh smashed against the wall.

Diabolico took the lead this time. He had his skull headed staff directed straight at the Titanium Ranger. "There's no escape for you this time, Ryan," said Diabolico, not knowing he was only half right about this.

True, the Titanium Ranger was surrounded with nowhere to run. He was too badly injured and exhausted to fight any further. There was only one way for him to escape now which was to teleport out of there. In the state he was in it was going to take up a lot of the strength he had left to just teleport back to Lightspeed.

"You're finished," said Diabolico. He went to stab the Titanium Ranger with his staff.

At the very last second the Titanium Ranger said the spell and he immediately disappeared out of there. Diabolico's stuff only hit the wall.

The other Rangers were eating a mean in the cafeteria talking about the activities of the day. Suddenly Ryan appeared out of nowhere and landed hard on his side at their table. There were shouts and screams at his sudden appearance.

"Ryan," screamed Dana.

Ryan was moaning from the pain.

"What the hell happened," demanded Carter.

Ryan was seriously banged up. There were a few spots on his suit which were a bit torn up. Ryan wasn't moving, but he was still breathing. "I was attacked," said Ryan, wincing his chest area was causing him pain. "I found the girl, but she alerted the demons of my presence when I tried to take her away. They beat me up pretty badly. You guys were right. It was a mistake to try and bring her back."

The Commander came running into the cafeteria. An officer had run to fetch him as soon as Ryan had appeared.

"Ryan, are you all right," said the Commander, greatly concerned. He had an extremely worried expression on his face.

Ryan attempted to get up, but completely failed because a large amount of pain went through his body. "Do I look all right to you," said Ryan, teeth gritted.

"Take it easy," said the Commander, "don't strain yourself." He and Carter then helped Ryan to stand. The Commander then turned to his daughter. "Dana go to the infirmary. Tell the doctors to prepare for an emergency patient."

Dana didn't have to be told twice. She left before her father had even finished giving her the order. The Commander and Carter carried Ryan out of there as gently as they could trying to cause him as little pain as possible. The other three Rangers followed close behind in case they needed any assistance with Ryan. Anyone in front of them immediately got out of their way knowing not to mess with them with an emergency like this.

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	20. Chapter 20

The Forbidden Love Chapter 20

"Hey, where did he go," shouted a frustrated Loki.

All of us were surprised when the Titanium Ranger suddenly disappeared, but we quickly got over the shock.

"He must've teleported out," said Diabolico.

This caught my attention. "I thought only you guys were able to do something like that," I said intrigued.

"We are," said Diabolico, "but Ryan did learn the spell when he was living among us."

"We're going to have to tell Jinxer to put some sort of barrier up so he can't get back in," said Vypra.

Olympus turned to me, asking "Are you sure you're all right, Kushina?"

"Positive," I said, smiling, "Olympus, I'm not hurt."

"I knew it was a bad idea to allow you to stay here," said Diabolico.

The two of us snapped our heads his way. "Excuse me," I said.

Diabolico said "You heard me. You're nothing but trouble. The Queen should never have allowed you entrance."

This made Olympus seriously angry. He jumped into my defense before I could even get in one word for myself. "Take that back," said Olympus, getting right into his face.

"Or what," taunted Diabolico.

The grip Olympus had tightened on his double-bladed spear. Olympus was absolutely ready to snap.

I tried to calm him down. I went over to Olympus and placed a calming hand onto his arm. "Olympus," I said. He turned to look at me and I looked back at him straight in the eyes. "Let it go."

Olympus could see in my eyes that I meant what I was saying. He took in a few deep breaths to calm himself down. As he did so his grip on his weapon loosened until it was back to being the way it was before. Olympus would've just let this drop, but unfortunately Diabolico had to have the last word in this matter.

"Obeying a human, Olympus," said Diabolico, shaking his head, "and just when we thought you couldn't sink any lower."

That was the final straw for Olympus. The look on his face turned from being completely calm to furious in a matter of only a few seconds.

I knew what was going to happen next.

"No," I said, trying to stop him, "Olympus don't…" My words fell on deaf ears as Olympus launched himself straight at Diabolico. I couldn't do anything to stop him.

Diabolico had already anticipated something like this from Olympus so he was prepared for it. Diabolico blocked Olympus's attack with his staff. Olympus went to punch him in the face, but Diabolico blocked that too. Before Olympus could do anything else Diabolico grabbed him by the wrist and threw him right at the wall.

"Olympus," I shouted, going to him and trying to help him back onto his feet.

"You'll pay for that," snarled Olympus. He then rushed at Diabolico ready to bring him down.

Diabolico went to meet him with his weapon at the ready.

At this point I had enough of this. I jumped in before they could go back to trying to kill each other. I place myself in the middle of them and held out my arms to each of them trying to keep them apart from each other. "Enough," I said, "you're on the same side. You shouldn't be fighting each other."

"The same side," exclaimed Diabolico, "I'm no comrade of…of a human lover!"

That really made Olympus angry. "Kushina, get out of the way," he said.

I wouldn't budge an inch. I looked to Vypra and Loki for some assistance. Those two were standing there the whole time just watching everything in front of them. "A little help here," I said.

"Why," said Loki.

"Why," I stated. "Two of your teammates are about to try and kill each other. That's why!"

"And why should this concern us," asked Vypra, "it's not our problem."

I looked at both of them in complete disbelief. I couldn't believe what I was hearing from these two although it wasn't that unexpected. I wasn't going to get any help with breaking Olympus and Diabolico up from Vypra and Loki, but I was going to get it from someone else.

"Is there a problem here?"

We all looked toward the door to see who it was and saw Jinxer standing there in the doorway. He had finally come. I was pretty sure Jinxer already knew what was occurring, but I didn't want Queen Bansheera to find out the reason of why these two were fighting in the first place. It must've been quite a really weird picture right there. Diabolico and Olympus were in battle stances with me right in the middle of them. I had a hand placed on each of their chests trying to separate them.

"There's nothing wrong, Jinxer," I said. "There was just a slight misunderstanding, but we've settled it. Right guys?"

I looked at both Olympus and Diabolico as I said this last part. I smiled, but the look in my eyes was cold and the expression on my face held an extremely big warning. It was actually quite clear to them. Continue this any further and I'll inform the Queen. None of them wanted any trouble from her especially Olympus. After a few moments the two lowered their weapons and calmed down.

"That's better," I said, satisfied.

Walking in Jinxer said "I heard a commotion coming from here. What was going on?"

He was told of what happened, of how the Titanium Ranger had appeared out of nowhere, and tried to take me way. Jinxer squeaked when he heard a Ranger had infiltrated the Skull Cavern undetected.

Olympus said "We're going to need you to put a kind of shield around the Skull Cavern. We don't want another Ranger getting in here again."

"Of course, my Prince," said Jinxer, bowing, "but now I have some news for you."

This caught everyone's attention and we all aimed curious looks at Jinxer.

"News, what news," questioned Diabolico.

Turning to Olympus and I, Jinxer said "The preparations are finished. The ritual is ready."

I sucked in a breath. Olympus and I shared a meaningful look. Olympus and I were working very hard to hold in our excitement at hearing this piece of information.

"Well then by all mean…," I said, "let's do it."

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	21. Chapter 21

The Forbidden Love Chapter 21

"I'm sorry that it took so long," said Jinxer, "but some of the preparations were a bit difficult."

We had left my chambers and were now in the place that resembled a great hall. Surprisingly the Queen was waiting there for us to arrive. We all bowed to her when we saw Bansheera standing there.

"Your Majesty," we all said.

She nodded in acknowledgement to us.

In the middle of the room was a large star which was drawn out of some kind of powder. It was inside of a circle drawn from the same kind of powder. On the line of the circle candles were placed on each outside point of the star.

Turning to Jinxer, I asked "Is this it?"

Nodding, he said "Yes."

"If this is all you had to do." I said, gesturing to the scene in front of us, "then why did it take so long to set up?"

Shrugging, Jinxer said "There were certain conditions that needed to be met."

"What kind of conditions," asked Olympus.

Jinxer said "This ritual can only be successful under the light of a full moon which is tonight. This is why we needed to wait a few days before this condition could be met."

"Very well," I said, nodding, now understanding why Jinxer had taken so long.

"Shall we begin," inquired Jinxer. He then directed us to our positions.

Jinxer directed me to stand inside of the circle and the middle of the star. I was careful not to step on or mess up anything in the entire circle. Olympus, Diabolico, and Loki were directed to their spots for the ritual on the outside of the circle. They were put at one of the few points of the star. The whole time Vypra was standing off to the side not getting involved. We all thought she wouldn't have to participate in the ritual so we were all surprised when Jinxer gestured for her to come forward.

"I don't need to be part of this," said Vypra, scornfully.

"Actually you do," said Jinxer, "you see I was wrong before. There must be five demons participating in this ritual not three."

"But you said that all you needed was three not five," she exclaimed.

"I made a mistake," he said, "now please take your place."

Vypra looked like she was about to explode. Her entire face was turning extremely red. "There's absolutely no way," she began, "I'm going to…"

"Vypra!"

Vypra immediately shut her mouth and slowly turned toward Queen Bansheera.

Queen Bansheera had a very cold look on her face. "Get into the circle, Vypra," ordered the Queen.

For a second there it looked like Vypra was going to protest further, but she thought better of it and backed off. She knew better than to go against her Queen. Reluctantly, Vypra went to where Jinxer directed her.

A moment later, Jinxer, also, took his place in the circle. Jinxer looked up at the hole which was made in the ceiling above us. "It's almost time," he said.

A thought came into my head. "Wait," I said.

"What is it now," said Loki, annoyed.

I said "Before we begin I…I'd like the form of the phoenix."

"Very well," said Jinxer.

Diabolico said "Can we please get this started?"

"Will the transformation hurt at all," I asked.

Shaking his head, Jinxer said "No, don't worry you won't feel a thing."

I took his word for it. I looked at Olympus and we smiled at each other. Light from the moon shined through the ceiling landing directly where I was standing. Immediately, Jinxer began to recite the incantation needed for the ritual. As Jinxer was saying it the lines of the pentagram began to take on a glow. Jinxer pointed his hand in my direction. A bunch of energy shot out of it and hit my body directly. Seeing what he was doing the others followed his lead. They shot their own energies at me. It brought on a strange feeling. It felt somewhat warm and something seemed to tingle. Not long after this my body started to change. Frightened I could feel the changes in my body, but like Jinxer said none of it actually caused much pain. It turned out more unpleasant than painful. During the entire transformation I was completely surrounded by light. It didn't take long before the whole transformation was complete. As soon as this happened the light surrounding my form disappeared revealing my new form.

Except for Queen Bansheera everyone around me gasped in astonishment at my new body. Honestly I couldn't blame them I was quite impressed myself. My body had gone through quite some dramatic changes. No one I knew as a human would recognize me at all now.

While Olympus had the body of a humanoid dragons warrior with a white-skinned human face mine was far different. My entire body now had the look of a humanoid phoenix warrior, but without the beak. Unlike the other demons I didn't have any wings. The entire transformation had really done wonders for my form. My new form made me look a whole lot more feminine. There were many more curves on my body now than there had been before. I checked myself out. I looked at my figure and raised my brows.

"Now I can work with that," I said. I wasn't the only one who thought this as a good thing.

Olympus was looking at me with an expression of appreciation on his face. Diabolico and Loki were staring at me with wide eyes while Vypra was working quite hard to hide the pure astonishment from her face. Jinxer was nodding in great satisfaction with the result of the ritual. Like I he had been afraid something might go wrong.

Stepping outside the pentagram instead of going straight over to Olympus I approached his mother. Queen Bansheera was wearing the same expression she had before the ritual started. She didn't allow any change of emotion to show on her face at all. I stood there in front of her and after a few seconds I went down on one knee bowing my head to her showing respect. "I am here to serve, my Queen," I said.

For a few moments there was only silence. No one not even Olympus dared to say a word. Queen Bansheera stared down at me as if she was trying to decide what to do. After a little while she broke the uncomfortable silence. "Arise, my servant," said the Queen.

I did as I was ordered while not taking my eyes off of her face.

Coming over to me, Olympus asked "Are you all right, Kushina?"

Nodding while smiling, I said "I feel great I'm not even hurt."

"Kushina is no longer a fitting name for you," stated Queen Bansheera. We all turned to her when she stated this. "You have left your former life behind you anew in a new body. Therefore you now require a new name."

"A new name," I questioned.

"From this day forth," said Queen Bansheera, "you will be known as Phoenix as shows your new form."

"Phoenix," I said, testing out the name, "Phoenix. I like the sound of that."

Wrapping an arm around me Olympus kissed the side of my head. "Well done," he said, softly.

"Not so fast," said Diabolico, suddenly.

"What is it now, Diabolico," asked Queen Bansheera, impatiently.

"Forgive me, my Queen, but I must protest," said Diabolico, "even with a changed body this girl is still not yet one of us."

At hearing an angry snarl came out of Olympus's mouth. To keep him from getting into another fight with Diabolico I held onto his arm thereby restraining him.

"What is your problem, Diabolico," demanded Olympus.

Diabolico said "Nothing I just think it's still a bit too early to be considering her as one of us just yet."

Queen Bansheera aimed cold eyes at him bearing a dangerous glint, demanding "Do you doubt my judgment?"

"I would never do that, my Queen," said Diabolico, "I only think she should be tested."

"What are you talking about," asked Bansheera.

Diabolico said "We just think she should be tested first."

"We," inquired Olympus, the two of us looking at Vypra and Loki.

These two were a little sheepish, but they didn't look away. Olympus opened his mouth to protest, but his mother cut him off before he could even get a single word out.

"Just what do you have in mind," asked the Queen.

Olympus gave his mother a bit of a look, but he didn't dare speak out against her.

"Here's what I'm suggesting," began Diabolico. "She goes out into Mariner Bay and proves herself to us."

"And how exactly do you expect her to do that," demanded Olympus.

Diabolico said "Cause enough damage and mayhem which will bring destruction to most of the city. If she succeeds in this then there will be no more objections."

Outraged, Olympus said "This is an intolerable insult! There is absolutely no way that I'm-."

"I'll do it," I said.

Everyone turned to me surprised.

"What did you just say," asked Olympus.

"I said I'll do it," I said, simply, refusing to take my gaze away from Diabolico's.

He stared at me right back.

Placing a hand on my shoulder, a shocked look on his face, Olympus said "You're no longer a human. That life is behind you now. There's no need for you to have to prove anything to us."

"Oh, but I want to," I said, softly, shrugging. "If these three idiots want me to prove my loyalty then fine, I'll do it. I already had a plan in mind anyway."

Anger appeared on the faces of Diabolico, Loki, and Vypra when I had called them "idiots" and they would've attacked me if Queen Bansheera wasn't there with us at the moment.

"You have a plan," said Loki, a smug expression on his face. "Ha! I highly doubt it's a good one. Whatever it is you'll probably fail before you've even begun!" Loki barked out laughter and so did Vypra.

"You say this," I said, slyly, "and yet you don't know what I'm even capable of."

"I don't need to," said Loki, "by just looking at you I already know you won't make the cut." Loki laughed again and Diabolico along with Vypra smirked in complete agreement with him.

"You underestimate me," I said, silkily.

Loki was still laughing, but the next moment a huge fireball hit him directly in the face. The impact from the attack threw Loki backwards into a pillar. The force made a very large crack in the pillars structure. Groaning, Loki rubbed the back of his head. Diabolico and Vypra looked at the person who had thrown the attack.

I was bouncing another large fireball in my hand. I had a hand on my hip and a raised eyebrow. I was starting to learn that I had close to the same powers Olympus had. "Don't. Ever. Underestimate. Me," I said, teeth gritted.

All three of them could only stare at me now.

Olympus came over and kissed me. "That's my girl," he said, proudly.

Vypra was helping Loki back up onto his feet while Diabolico was scratching his head.

"So…," said Jinxer, tentatively "what exactly is your plan?"

Smiling slowly at all of them, I said "Listen…and listen well."

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	22. Chapter 22

**Authors Note: I'm back!**

The Forbidden Love Chapter 22

_Nearly a week later…_

"So guys how did you like the movie," inquired Carter. He and his friends were coming out of the movie theater their feature had only just ended. The film they'd all seen was known as 'Skyline'.

"The theme of the movie was well enough," said Joel, "but I really think the ending could've been better."

"How do you mean," asked Dana.

"Those two at the end could've just died like everyone else. They didn't have to live," explained Joel.

"I think you're wrong," said Dana. "I think the ending was quite romantic."

"I agree," said Kelsey, jumping in.

"Oh come on," drawled Joel, exasperated. "That movies' ending wasn't even close to being romantic." Joel turned to Chad.

In response Chad defensively held out his hands, saying "Hey don't look at me. I'm staying out of this you're on your own."

As the five of them were arguing about the ending of the film Ryan was walking behind them. He was staying well out of the discussion. Ryan was just hanging back deep in his own thought of the movie.

Suddenly a flash of red caught Ryan's eye. He thought he was imagining it. Slowing down he kept his eyes on the crowd. For a second there he thought he saw…but it couldn't be. He stopped where he was in order to get a better look. He narrowed his eyes scanning the crowd. The others hadn't yet noticed their comrade had stopped. They were still occupied with their argument and kept on walking.

They'd only gone a few feet when Dana noticed her big brother was no longer following them. As soon as Dana came to this realization she stopped where she was and turned toward her brother. "Ryan," she called, questioningly.

Hearing her call out to her brother the others halted where they were. All of them could see what had caught Dana's attention which was that her brother had stopped in place and was looking hard at the people in the crowds.

"Ryan, what's wrong," asked Dana, concerned.

There she was he wasn't imagining things! Ryan spotted the long red hair deep in the crowd. His eyes were focused on her now. Ryan knew it was that girl Kushina especially when she turned around a moment later looking directly at him. For a few moments the two of them made direct eye contact with each other. The whole time Ryan didn't even hear or notice what his sister was saying to him. Ryan now took a few steps toward where the young woman was standing. Then suddenly the girl turned and took off completely disappearing into the deep sea of people.

Ryan cursed "Shit!" Then without any hesitation he ran straight into the crowd.

"Ryan," shouted Dana, startled. "Ryan, come back here!"

Ryan was far too focused to even hear his sister's words. He didn't stop to respond at all to his sister's call. He just kept on moving. Not wanting to lose sight of her brother Dana ran right after him still calling out his name with the others following right at her heels. Ryan was pushing past a bunch of people in order to get to where the girl had been before. When he got to that one spot he came to a stop looking in every direction trying to catch a visual on her again. This gave Dana and the others the chance to catch up with him.

"Ryan," shouted Dana, searching her brother, "what the hell was that all about?"

"Yeah," demanded Joel, "one minute you were standing with us and the next you were running away."

"I saw Kushina," said Ryan. Those three words were all Ryan needed. Immediately Ryan had everyone's full attention.

"You saw her," said Carter. "Where?"

"She was standing right here a second ago," said Ryan.

Chad said "That's impossible. After what you told us of your last encounter with her it doesn't sound like she would ever come back here."

"Chad's right," said Kelsey. "You must've just been seeing things."

"I know what I saw you guys," insisted Ryan.

Dana went over to her brother putting a hand on his shoulder. "Ryan-," she said, gently.

"I'm telling you I saw her right here," shouted Ryan, shrugging his sister hand off. Right at that moment Ryan spotted who he was looking for. He could see her not too far away. She was standing there staring straight at him as if she wanted them to find her "There she is again."

Heads turned in all directions looking for where the girl was.

"Where is she? I don't see her," said Carter.

Suddenly Kushina turned running away in the opposite direction.

"Wait! Stop," shouted Ryan. He pursued after her with the others following. Ryan wasn't going to allow himself to lose her again. It was difficult, but the group managed to keep the girl in their sights.

Kushina led them out of the more crowded areas of the city into the more open areas. In these areas it was easier to keep sight of her, but she continued making all of these twists and turns which made it somewhat hard to keep track. Each time they thought she escaped they always seemed to find her waiting for them around the next corner. Eventually the Power rangers recognized Kushina was leading them somewhere.

"Where is this girl going," asked Joel, frustrated. "Carter do you have any idea where she's taking us?"

Shaking his head, no, Carter said "Not a clue."

Not long after they all got an answer. They soon learned Kushina was taking them to a section of the docks surrounded by a bunch of warehouses. The Power Rangers finally caught a break. Coming to an end of the sea of warehouses the girl had no choice, but to stop at the edge of the water. She couldn't go any further and neither could the Rangers. Inside they were satisfied to finally be able to catch their quarry along with their breath in this whole chase.

"At last," breathed Ryan, "the mystery woman finally stops." He was grinning as he said this.

She slowly turned around facing them.

"Looks like we've got you," said Kelsey, confident.

There was silence and then something very peculiar happened.

The timid shy expression on the girls face completely altered. It was instantly replaced by a devious grin and a cold glint appeared in her eyes. "Actually, Rangers," purred Kushina, raising her hand high above her head, "I've got you." She then snapped her fingers the response being instantaneous.

The Power Rangers were attacked from all sides. They'd absolutely no time to react in order to adequately defend themselves. Crying out in shock the Rangers all were thrown into the air from the sheer force of the combined attacks. They landed in a large heap on the ground. Pain filled moans escaped their lips as they attempted to recover from the suddenness of what had occurred.

The Rangers could hear laughter echoing all around them. Looking up from where they were the Rangers found the source of the laughter and what did attack them. Olympus, Diabolico, Vypra, Loki, and Jinxer left their hiding places going out in the open. They stood in a line side by side with Kushina facing the Rangers.

Carter was now back on his feet along with his companions. For a little while there was an uneasy stand-off between the two sides. The Power Rangers didn't know what to make of what was going on no clue of what was to happen next. One thing they did know was if this turned into a fight it would be a pretty short one. They didn't need anyone to tell them who was going to win…and it wasn't going to be them.

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	23. Chapter 23

The Forbidden Love Chapter 23

Carter didn't like the situation they'd found themselves in. Carter was going through what options were open in his head to take quickly concluding none of them presented were good. Just by watching his face I could tell the Red Ranger was desperately trying to find a solution out of this. Unfortunately for them there wasn't going to be an escape this time. Olympus wrapped his arm around me pulling me close. Placing a finger under my chin he tilted my head my so that I was looking into his face. Olympus brought his face down towards mine gently kissing me on the lips. A little too soon for my taste he pulled away, but for now I would have to be satisfied. We would be able to continue more of this later on.

Olympus stroked the back of his hand against the side of my face in a caress, saying "Well done, my dear."

I responded with a look of adoration in my eyes.

Diabolico, Loki, and Vypra remained a bit disgusted by our signs of genuine affection towards each other. This was obvious by the expressions shares, but they knew better than to say anything about it right now at the time. Carter a long with the rest of the Rangers were attempting to think of ideas to get out of this, but now none were having any luck in this categorical process.

Realizing things would not end well in their favor if a fight broke out Carter try to negotiate their way out. Raising his hands placating, he said "We want no trouble here-."

Before Carter was able to get another syllable in Olympus barked out a laugh. He then turned towards me and the rest of our companions. "Do you hear that," he mocked, sarcastically. "They don't want trouble, but that's what they've got."

That got all of us to burst out laughing causing some of the Power Rangers to become angry.

"Hey," shouted the Green Ranger, angrily, "knock it off!"

I looked back at this one a cruel smile playing on my lips, silkily, saying "You're in no position to be making any demands."

This made the Green Ranger to shut right up. Many of the Rangers were looking at me with disdain on their faces although some of them were full of pity instead. Ryan especially was looking at me with sadness. Out of all of them he was the only one who came close to knowing what she was going through. Honestly this guy didn't know when to quit and back down.

"Kushina-," he began.

I cut him off with a raised hand before he could go any further with his pleading words. Giving him a cold hard glare, I sneered "Save your sympathy for someone who actually wants it, Traitor!"

There was a pained look on Ryan's face.

"This is insane, Kushina," said Dana. "You're not one of them you're not even one of their kinds."

At this an evil grin appeared on my face and absolutely none of the Power Rangers liked the flash in my eyes. "Oh really," I purred, my voice of silk.

There were smirks on the faces of the other demons and Olympus in anticipation. The Rangers had completely no clue of what was going to happen next. What would occur would astound them all shocking them clear to the bone. Smirking I waved a hand in front of my face. Instantly as this happened a transformation took hold. My body altered changing from the human to the demon, phoenix, in mere second's right before their eyes. A minute ago the rangers saw a young woman standing there, but now…there stood a demon. All of us ended up bursting in outright laughter at the expressions on the Rangers faces.

"It cannot be," whispered Carter.

"Surprised," I mocked, eyes cold. "You didn't honestly expect me to remain as a pitiful human, did you?"

"But how," questioned Chad.

Gesturing at Jinxer, I said "You have Jinxer to thank for this. With his magic in sorcery he was able to harness a spell to change me into one of them. I must say this new body is certainly an improvement compared to my old one."

"You got that right, my love," said Olympus, his eyes roaming up and down my body.

I gave Olympus a seductive smile returning my attention to the Power Rangers, announcing "I bring a message from the Queen."

"What is it," demanded Ryan, teeth gritted.

Chuckling, amused, I said "Hear the words of the Queen. Enjoy your time on Mariner Bay while it lasts. For you will not have it much longer. In fire and water Mariner Bay will be destroyed the Queen will have her kingdom once again."

"Mariner Bay will never fall to the Queen! We will not allow it," exclaimed Carter.

Cruelly barking out a laugh, I said "How can you protect Mariner Bay when you can't even protect yourselves?!"

To emphasize my point further I attacked. None of the Power Rangers had any time to react in defense. They'd attempted to activate their morphers when I pounced. Using my new found speed to reach them before they even could get the chance. Painful groans arose from them when they impacted the hard ground.

Turning to Olympus, calmly, I said "Message sent."

"Return to the Cavern," ordered Olympus, speaking to the other four.

Objecting, Loki protested "No way! We've got them right where we want them!" Loki stomped purposefully toward the Rangers with his weapon in hand.

Diabolico placed a hand firmly on his friends shoulder to retrain his advance. "No, Loki," cautioned Diabolico.

Loki looked at Diabolico disbelief on his face, saying "But-."

"Queen Bansheera only wanted us to deliver a message. It's done," reminded Diabolico, firm, shaking his head no. Inside Diabolico was fuming a bit with rage. He and the other demons had been trying to destroy the Rangers for months and now they had the Rangers in the perfect position for annihilation, but were being denied the opportunity to successfully destroy them.

Pointing his weapon right at the Rangers, struggling to get back onto their feet, growling "You got lucky this time, Rangers, but you won't be next time!" With that said he then teleported out of the area returning to the Skull Cavern. The others followed right behind the guy with only Olympus and I remaining a few seconds more.

Olympus drew me close to him wrapping me in one of his wings at his side. He sneered at the Rangers while I bore a large smirk on mine with the coldest of glares shooting from my eyes.

Giving a little wave, sarcastically, I said "Keep in touch."

Olympus laughed cruelly with me joining our voices combining. Without further delay the two of us teleported out of there in flames before the Power Rangers could utter a single word to stop us. For a while afterwards there was a shocked silence surrounding the Power Rangers. At first nothing was said while they were recovering from their supposed helpless states.

The Yellow Rangers was the first to recover her voice out of all of them, breathless, saying "Guys….What just happened?"

No one really figured to know exactly what to say to that.

Shaking his head, Carter said "I don't know. I'm really not sure."

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	24. Chapter 24

**The Forbidden Love Chapter 24**

Later on other people in Lightspeed picked up the Power Rangers. They were now in the infirmary presently being treated for their injuries. Miss Fairweather with some other doctors was assisting to look after all of them. It took days for the Power Rangers to heal from their wounds.

After much rest Dana was the first one to be healed and she was able to get the proper clearance to leave the infirmary. During this time she went back to the university in Mariner Bay to attend to her classes. It was during this time that she saw it.

Dana was on her way back to Lightspeed when she saw something that made her stop. Her eyes went wide when she spotted it grabbing a paper at a reflex from a newsstand. On the cover page was a clear face image of me as a human. On the top said "Missing" and on the side there were details with a description of myself. For a few minutes she just stood there staring at it. Suddenly she bolted with the paper in hand.

She hadn't even gotten ten feet when the owner of the stand called out stopping her angrily, saying "You going to pay for that?"

At hearing this Dana immediately turned around doubling back, apologizing "Oh sorry." She quickly got out some cash from her wallet handing the correct amount to the man. As soon as Dana was through with transaction she took off at a run for Lightspeed.

Back at the base they were facing some problems. Some of the Power Rangers were trying to sneak out of the infirmary without clearance.

"Absolutely not," shouted Miss Fairweather. "Get back in those beds now!"

Not wanting to get into any more disciplinary trouble than they already were and to stay on her good side especially Joel the guys got back into their beds. They did this even though they were reluctant to do it.

Kelsey looked at the boys from where she was sitting comfortably on her bed. "Told you it wouldn't work," she boasted, smug.

"Shut up," said Chad, throwing his pillow at her hitting the shoulder.

She picked it up throwing it right back at him. Unlike Chad her shot landed directly in his face. Everyone in the infirmary started laughing at the display. At the exact moment Dana burst right in.

Skidding to a halt in the middle of the infirmary Dana stopped right by her brothers bed. She was bent over with her hands on her knees breathing heavily from the hard run. Her fellow Rangers was looking at her in concern.

Miss Fairweather went right over to her, saying "Dana, you shouldn't be running. You've only just barely recovered from your injuries."

Dana was still just trying to catch her breath fortunately she managed to get some words she needed to say out without problems. Breathless, she said "I'm…sorry, but there's…something you have to…see."

Ryan straightened in his bed a curious look on his face at what his sister just said. "What is it," he asked.

In answer Dana held the newspaper in front of her revealing the cover page edition to them all. They saw my picture nice and clear as the headline on the front page.

"What," they all shouted.

Ryan was the closest so he grabbed the newspaper right out of his sister's hands getting a better look at what they'd just seen. He read the article out loud to all of them. It was telling that a middle-aged couple was searching for their missing daughter placing a reward for anyone who had any information about her whereabouts. There was a little more to it than that, but Ryan stopped reading somewhere in the middle. That was all anyone of them needed to be briefed to.

When Ryan was finished reading the Commander came walking into the infirmary. He was carrying another copy of the same newspaper in his hand. Holding it aloft pointing to the front page, he asked "Have you seen this?"

Showing their copy, Ryan answered "Just finished it."

Rubbing the back of his head, the Commander said "This isn't good."

"You cans say that again," said Joel.

"This has got to be difficult on her parents," said Kelsey. "They must've been very close if they've sent out a reward for information on where she is."

Everyone couldn't help but agree with their friend on that one. By the look of things it was definitely true. For a few minutes there was silence with everyone in the infirmary except some of the other doctors were lost in their own deep thoughts.

After a while the Commander turned to his daughter, instructing "Dana, why don't you go over to the Halliwell's. Give them our condolences on their loss."

Dana looked at them, curious, saying "But why, Dad? Their daughter isn't even dead."

"She's right about that," agreed Ryan.

The Commander said "I know, but it's best if someone goes over there anyway."

Dana said "Should I tell them of what's happened to their daughter?"

The Commander rapidly shook his head, no, at that. "No," said the Commander. "We don't know what the condition is with this at the moment. It would be cruel to cause them anymore pain then they're already in."

At this Dana couldn't help, but agree with her father.

Carter stopped her before she reached the door. "Hold up, Dana," said Carter, getting out of bed. "I'm coming too."

Miss Fairweather wasn't going to let one of her patients go that easily. Miss Fairweather went straight over to him placing her hands on his shoulders trying to push him back down situated into his bed.

Carter held up his hand to placate her raising his right arm where it was in a cast and sling. "There's no need for that, Miss Fairweather. I feel fine it's just my arm that needs healing."

Miss Fairweather looked to the others for assistance, but saw no sign of support from any of them. She sighed in defeat. She waved toward the door, saying "All right. Go ahead."

Smiling Carter got out of the bed following his friend out of the infirmary. Dana and Carter took the jeep leaving the base. Before they'd left the base they'd looked up the address of where my parents residence was located. So they knew the right area where to go. Their path took them to a really civilized and friendly neighborhood. They parked in front of a two-story house that had a nice setting to it. The two of them exited the jeep approaching the front door.

"You ready for this," asked Carter.

Dana nodded ringing the doorbell. Within moments someone from inside answered the door.

A middle-aged woman, my mother, opened the door facing the strangers. "Yes," she asked, softly.

Carter and Dana stepped forward revealing their badges.

"Hi, Mrs. Halliwell," began Carter, "I'm Carter and this is Dana. We're from Lightspeed. We're sorry for your loss. We saw your daughters story in the newspaper earlier today."

My mother's eyes widened when she learned of their identities. "You have news of my daughter," she said, breathless.

Carter and Dana shared a look that my mother didn't catch.

"Not really," said Dana, "but we're searching. We may have a lead on where she is, but we're not so sure. The police are still currently looking for her."

My mother opened the door gesturing for them to enter inside. Mother brought the two Rangers into the living room, calling "Daniel! Come down we have guests!"

There was a thump from the second floor.

"Be down in a minute, Honey," said Father.

Mother waved at two chairs, saying "Please have a seat."

The two of them obliged while she took a seat on the couch. It wasn't long before my father followed suit from whatever he was doing upstairs joining them in the living room. Mother was the one who made the introductions as my father took a seat beside Mother on the couch.

She said "My name is Penny Halliwell and this is my husband Daniel. Daniel this is Carter and Dana. They have news of our daughter."

As soon as my mother said that last part Father straightened in his seat next to her, saying "You have news." It wasn't a question.

Carter said "We may have a lead, but we don't know what'll become of it."

"Please, please find our daughter," begged Mother.

"Perhaps if you tell us a few things it could make it a bit easier for us to find her," offered Dana.

"What would you like to know," asked Father.

"Well for starters," began Carter, "was your daughter a trouble makers? Has she ever been in any type of trouble?"

Shaking his head, Father said "No, Kushina, was never in any sort of trouble. She was always a good girl." My father picked up a picture from a nearby table handing the frame to the rangers. "This is the most recent picture of her."

Dana took the picture in her hands the two Rangers looking at it. It was a smiling picture of me before I'd ever gotten involved with Olympius.

"She was in the university here in Mariner Bay," said Mother. "She wanted to help animals and do some good for the environment."

"You must be very proud of her," said Carter.

"We are," said Mother. "She's worked so hard to get to where she is now."

"Do you have any indication where she may have gone," asked Carter, gently.

That managed to get a response out of both of my parents. My father's knuckles turned white with how hard he had his hands in fists and my mother had a sad expression in her eyes. Both of the Rangers looked on curious at the people in front of them. They sensed a strong feeling now that something serious was up.

"You don't have to tell us if you don't want to," said Dana.

"No, you need to hear this," said Father. Dad got up from the couch going over to the window. He looked out with his hands crossed behind his back facing everyone else in the room. "A while back Kushina told us that she'd met someone. She said that she met him somewhere in the Bay. She'd been seeing him for a while before she had to come visit us."

"What's this got to do with him," asked Carter.

Turning back around facing them, Father said "We think she may have runaway with him."

"What makes you say that," asked Dana.

Mother said "When Kushina spoke to us of him she spoke very highly of him. When my husband inquired if the guy had hurt her in any way she got all defensive wouldn't hear a single word against the man. She had such a look of love, devotion, and adoration in her eyes when she told us further about him. We could tell she was deeply in love with this man."

Eagerly leaning forward in the chair he occupied, Carter asked "Did she mention a name?"

Dana was equally as eager to hear the answer. But what came to them was a bit different than they wanted to receive. They didn't hear the name that they expected to hear from my parents.

"Oliver," answered Mother, "His name is Oliver."

Carter said "Did she mention anything of a last name or what he looked like?"

Shaking her head, Mother said "No she didn't divulge anything else, but she did say he originated from an extremely wealthy family outside Mariner Bay. That he and his family were so rich they could be royalty in their own right."

That clicked inside the heads of the Rangers. Even though the name wasn't the same the description of Olympius along with his lineage was. Him and his mother were known to be royalty. She must've used the name Oliver as a substitute for Olympius. My father furiously banging his fist against the wall lured Carter and Dana from their musings.

"Daniel," said Mother. Rising she rushed over to her husband. She placed her hands on his band and shoulder trying to calm him down.

"I swear if I ever see that guy I'll kill him," growled Father.

"Daniel," shouted Mother, shocked. She'd never seen her husband this angry.

Father quickly calmed himself down turning to face the two Rangers again, saying "Before Kushina met this Oliver she was a model student. Her grades were at their peak and she never got into any trouble, but as soon as she met this guy things changed. Her grades started slipping and she was late for her classes. What's worst is that she got fired from her job. That's never happened before! She is always a good worker giving it her all. But this boy has seriously altered her. She's not herself anymore."

Both Carter and Dana shared a knowing look. "You have no idea," they both thought.

The two of them knew if they told my parents where I was along with who I was ith at the moment it would kill them. It would so break their hearts.

"You must love her very much," said Dana, softly.

My parents nodded their heads.

"Yes," said Father, "ever since she disappeared I've been tirelessly looking for her trying to find her. She is our only daughter. After she was born we realized we couldn't have anymore children so she's all we've got."

"You mustn't worry yourself, Mrs. Halliwell. Let the authorities handle the situation to find your daughter. She may yet come back," encouraged Carter.

He spoke as convincing as he could be not giving anything away. Even though it took a bit of effort on his part. H couldn't show that had a clue about where I was. He didn't trust himself enough to speak further. Dana and Carter knew they'd gathered enough information so they got up to leave.

"Once again we're sorry for your loss. Thank you for your time. We apologize for disturbing you," said Carter.

Just as they reached the front door my mother stopped them. "Wait," she called.

The two of them turned back to face her.

"What is it," asked Dana.

Mother bore a sad expression on her face there was a bit of a hesitant note in her voice when she spoke. "Please," she began, softly, "if you see my daughter tell her to come home."

The look in their eyes softened when my mother said this to them.

Placing a gentle hand on my mothers shoulder giving it a squeeze, Dana said "We'll do what we can."

She wasn't making any guarantees for my parents. With that said Carter and Dana left through the front door with Mother closing it behind them. The two of them headed for the jeep at the same time they were processing what they'd discovered. They took their seats inside of the vehicle driving off. They were quite sympathetic to the whole situation.

"Olympius," stated Carter. "It has to be Olympius. Kushina must've used the name Oliver as an cover up for him."

"It has to be such a trial for them right now," said Dana. "To lose their daughter so suddenly with nearly so warning or explanation and they don't even know that she's joined the side of the demons."

"It's better for them that way. They should believe their daughter is gone than know she's joined the side of the enemy," said Carter.

Dana sighed "Maybe you're right, but it just doesn't feel right."

"I know, but we're just going to have to deal with it for now," said Carter, patting her shoulder.

"Do you think she'll ever return, Carter," asked Dana.

"I don't know," admitted Carter, shaking hi head. "I don't know what's in her mind so I have no indication of what she's thinking, but I don't believe she'll be coming back. Her love for Olympius is very strong."

Dana was shivering in her seat, but it wasn't from any sort of chill. "I still can't believe she fell in love with that monster," she said, disgusted. "He's trying to destroy Mariner Bay!"

Carter shrugged, saying "I don't know how it started for them, but she seems to really care for him and he her. By what her parents told us she's absolutely enamored by him."

"I still can't understand it," said Dana. "But then again love is such a hard thing to understand sometimes. It has so many multiple different forms to take."

"But what will we do now," asked Dana. "Will we try and get her back again?"

"No," answered Carter. "Ryan barely made it out alive last time and I highly doubt any of us could do any better and out of all of us he knew the place. No, trying to rescue her would just be a waste of time and resources. After all she doesn't even want to be rescued in the first place."

Dana couldn't help but agree with him on this reasoning. "You're right," conceded Dana.

The two continued on driving in silence back to the base for a while after that. As they were going through the city during the busiest part of the day Carter noticed something to catch his eye he couldn't believe.

He put his free hand on her shoulder, quickly saying "Dana, pull over."

"But-," she began, but was cut off.

"Just do it," he said.

Not realizing what was going on Dana did as she was directed although she felt a bit confused at the order he was giving her.

As she was pulling over to the side Carter pointed to a hidden spot, saying "Move over there."

Dana obeyed parking where he wanted.

As soon as Dana parked she turned to Carter, demanding "What's going on?"

Gesturing somewhere to the right of them, he answered "That."

Dana looked to where he was pointing eyes widening in her shock. She blinked multiple times taking a second look at what she was seeing. There sitting at an outside table at a nearby restaurant was a familiar looking young woman with flaming red hair with magnificent eyes…Kushina, me. The two Rangers didn't really know what to make of this.

"What in the world is she doing here," exclaimed Dana.

"I don't know," said Carter, "but I'm going to find out." Carter opened a side door getting out of the jeep.

A bit hesitant Dana turned off the keep following him out. The two of them headed for the place I was sitting outside of the restaurant.

Dana had a very bad feeling about this.

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